Living for What Matters Forever

The following is a lightly edited transcript provided by a transcription service. Please check the video before quoting.

What Matters Forever?

I told you you were going to hear a testimony this morning that I don’t think you’ll soon forget, and I want to start by praying as graciously as asked us to pray and by praying for what’s about to happen in this room.

So we’ve talked at different points over the last few days about that picture. In Acts 13 when the church was worshiping and praying the Holy Spirit said in a mysterious way, much like we, excuse me, heard John mention last night in a mysterious, miraculous way though the spirit Jesus, set apart for me, Saul and Barnabas for this work, and the church laid their hands on them and sent them out.

So goers and senders, and I trust the Holy Spirit again, much like John mentioned last night has been speaking all throughout the last few days and in many ways for months and years leading up to this moment.

Respond to the Holy Spirit

But I want to give us an opportunity in a few minutes to respond to how the Holy Spirit has been speaking. So just to let you know where this is all going, the end of our time in God’s word, a few minutes from now, I’m going to invite people all across this room to stand if they would say, if you would say, I believe God may be leading me to go and in standing today, I’m saying I’m going to communicate to my church a desire to go as a missionary to cross barriers specifically for the spread of the gospel in other places, places where the gospel hasn’t gone.

And at that time, if you would say you believe God is calling you to stay and make disciples where you live in your culture and live to send others to go for the spread of the gospel where it hasn’t gone, then I’m going to invite you to stay seated during that time. And to be clear, this is not a call to divide this room into two tiers. The super Christians who are goers and the sub-Christians who are stares, the varsity, the JV,

God is Calling You

The most important issue a few moments from now is not whether you are sitting or standing. The most important issue is whether you are obeying and for some obedience will mean standing and for others, obedience will mean sitting.

And for those of you who believe God is calling you to go, I want to be clear about what I’m not calling you to, I’m not calling you to make a decision today to move tomorrow to the Middle East for that matter.

I would not call or encourage you to make that decision alone at all. That’s why I want to emphasize that what you would be saying in your standing is that you believe the Lord is leading you to go to your church. If you don’t have a church to join a church, to go to that church and say, as best as I can tell, I believe God is leading me to go for the spread of the gospel where it hasn’t gone.

So I want you to help me discern this and help send me if God’s indeed leading me. So that’s the moment to which the next few minutes are headed and I need the spirit of God to lead us to that moment. I want to pray, but before I pray, I want to ask every follower of Christ in this room, every one of us, students, leaders,

How did We Each Find God?

College ministers, campus ministers, church staff, pastors, those who’ve spoken, every single one of us, and I’m including myself in this, for us to all put our lives on the table before God right now and to say whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. You want me to go? I’ll go wherever you want me to go.

You want me to stay, I’ll stay and do all that you called me to do in staying no strings attached. And some of you already know God’s calling you to go so you’re ready to stand right now. Others of you are not sure.

Some of you believe God’s leading you to stay seated, but I want to ask you as we pray in a fresh way right now, just ask God to speak to your heart by His Spirit, through your word, his word in the next few minutes. So let’s bow our heads together.

God, we praise You for how You sent out Martin and Isha Burnham and we praise You for all that You have done and are doing right now through their obedience to go, we pray together for Zacharias. Now, all those other men she mentioned, God, we pray for their salvation.

God, we pray that you would open their eyes to your glory in the face of Jesus. They would trust in Jesus not as a mere prophet but as Lord and Savior and king.

We praise you for the fruit of Martin’s life that extends far beyond his death. And so with a sober sense that none of us knows what this prayer is that we’re praying right now, what it will mean for us

We Stay Together for God

And what it will lead us to. We say together before you, whatever you want us to do, wherever you want us to go, however, you want us to send our lives or yours, and we ask you to speak right now, we pray by your spirit as you did in Acts 13.

It was so overwhelming that the same Holy Spirit who spoke on that day is in this room right now here in Louisville, Kentucky. And so we pray you would speak now and give us courage to hear and obey, not to doubt when we hear your voice, not to be deceived in thinking.

Your voice can’t be trusted to hear and obey your voice. And God, we pray that the nations might feel the waves of your spirit moving in the days to come because of what your spirit does in this room right now.

We ask for this in Jesus’ name if you agree with that prayer, let’s stay together. Amen. All right, you ready? One Corinthians chapter 15, one Corinthians chapter 15. Obviously, we’re not able to hit on every single chapter in this book, but we come today in this last session to my favorite chapter in this book where I want to answer the question why?

Because let’s be honest, what we’ve talked about these last few days is crazy. According to this world, why with all the comforts and opportunities available to you here, why would you leave it all and give your life going to a hard or difficult or even dangerous place to speak a message?

And why would you go do that if you decide to go for everyone who stands now or in the days to come? That’s a question that many of your parents are going to ask you and your friends and many of them Christians. Can’t you just follow Jesus here?

Why are you going there and leaving so much behind or even for those whom God calls to stay? Let’s not be fooled into thinking that the sacrificial life is only for those who go. Is God calling senders to live it up here while goers risk their lives there?

God Calls Us to Spread the Gospel

No, God is calling senders to orient our lives around sacrifice for the spread of the gospel to all the nations, which means living and giving is very different from this world. But why do that for all of us? Why should we only marry someone who is zealous for the spread of the gospel among the nations?

Why should the spread of the gospel among the nations dictate what degree you get in college or what plans you make for your life? Why should radical going or sending mark every Christian’s life? O

Ne Corinthians 15 answers that question, why? Right in the middle of this chapter, look at, verse 30, Paul starts talking about how he’s risking his life on a mission, and looks at what he says there. He says, why are we in danger every hour? Then he says in verse 31, I’m dying every day. Then he starts talking about fighting with beasts at Ephesus.

Our Difficulties and Challenges

He’s risking his life in the world facing all kinds of difficulties and challenges. The point of One Corinthians 15 is to tell the church at Corinth why and not just so that they would know why he’s risking his life because he wants to encourage them to do the same.

Look at the very last verse in this chapter, verse 58. This is how Paul closes. He says, therefore, in light of all this, my beloved brothers be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

You see that abound, abound in going abound, in sending abound in living for the spread of the gospel in the world. Why? Because this is the life that counts. This is life that’s not in vain. So here’s what I want to do. I want to read this whole chapter.

We’re going to read all 58 verses and then I want to show you three reasons and there’s going to be a lot to write underneath those three reasons. So if you’re taking notes, get ready. Three reasons why radical going or sending for the spread of the gospel in all nations is the only life that makes sense in this world.

Pay Close Attention to God’s Word

Now in order to help you see these reasons for yourself in God’s word, so you see much like we heard from John last night, they’re not coming from me. I want you to see it in God’s word and test it there.

So I want to invite you to do something with me as I read these verses. Circle or note or maybe count every time you see one of two things, either death or resurrection mentioned. So either death or reference to death like burial falling asleep or perishing.

So any reference to death and then any reference to resurrection or being raised. So as you’re meditating on scripture, the M in maps, whenever you see words or phrases that the Holy Spirit repeats in God’s word, pay attention close to that.

So let’s circle or note or count every time you see death or resurrection in this chapter and hopefully, this will also help you from kind of tuning out as we’re reading through the word.

Death and Resurrection

Just keep your focus circle note count every time you see death or resurrection and in the process, you’re going to see for yourself the first two reasons why we give our lives to this and I’ll put the chapter on the screen just in case you don’t have a Bible with you, but if you have one in front of you, just circle note where you see it, death or resurrection.

First Corinthians chapter 15 verse one. Now I would remind you, brothers of the gospel, I preach to you which you received and which you stand and by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believe in vain, for I delivered to you as a first importance.

What I also receive, is that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures that he appeared to see.

Do Not Let Christ Be Raised in Vain

Then to the 12, he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom were still alive though some had fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles. Last of all as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me for I’m the least of the apostles unworthy 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 toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me, whether it was I or they. So we preach and so you believed, I’ll get ready to circle even more here, verse 12.

Now, if Christ is proclaimed as 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, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Did God Raise Christ?

We’re 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’re still in your sins, then those 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. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for as by a man came death by a man has also come 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 that is coming, those who belong to Christ then comes to the end.

We are All God’s Subjects

When he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power 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’s accepted 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 puts all things in subjection under him that God may be all in all.

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger? Every hour I protest my brothers by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day.

God gives Us Each a Body

What do I gain? If humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor as is right and do not go on sinning.

For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame, but someone will ask, how are the dead raised with what kind of body do they come from 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 as a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same. There is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

Heavenly and Earthly Bodies

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind. The glory of the earth is of another. There is one glory of the sun another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars for stars that differ from star and 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 in the natural body. It is 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’s not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, the man of dust.

Who are Those of Heaven?

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.

I tell you this brother’s flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then she’ll come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death.

Where is your victory? Oh, death. Where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore my beloved brothers are steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Did you see it everywhere? How many did you count? Anybody Count.

Death is Coming

I counted 54 different times that death and resurrection are mentioned in this chapter and I may have missed one or two death resurrections. So here are the first two reasons why God is leading you to either be a radical goer or a radical sinner. Reason number one is because death is coming because death is coming.

So much of One Corinthians 15 revolves around the reality of death. Right in the middle of the chapter, you see it, one Corinthians 15, 21 by a man death verse 22, in Adam all die. Every single one of us is Adam.

In other words, every single one of us born in the human race will die unless Jesus comes back first. Death is our destiny and death is our enemy. According to one Corinthians 1526, it’s an enemy to be destroyed. This is really important for all of us to remember death is coming.

So think about what that means. One, it means that our death is coming in this room. Your death is coming. My death is coming. Our death is coming. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be this week for any one of us in this room, not one of us in this room is guaranteed to make it back home today, not one of us.

And I don’t mean to be depressing here, but I do mean to be eye-opening. You and I are not on this earth for very long. We don’t have a lot of time. You don’t have a lot of time. I don’t have a lot of time. You feel like you have the world in front of you. You’re not guaranteed another second. You’re not guaranteed to make it to the end of this session.

Life’s a Vapor

The Bible says each of us is here for a little while. Life’s a vapor. It’s a mist. It’s here one second and gone. The next life is short. So don’t waste it. Students, and leaders, your life is a mist. So make the mist count.

Your death is coming. You don’t have a lot of time and not just because our death is coming, but because others’ death is coming. The people we’re talking about reaching are dying and not just physically. You look at verse 18, you see a reference to falling asleep and perishing. So that first term is a reference to physical death.

The body stops breathing, the heart stops beating. The second perishing is a reference to spiritual death. The state of someone who dies in their sin apart from Jesus as savior and enters into everlasting never ever ending death.

Conscious Torment

What the Bible describes as an eternity of conscious torment. Luke 1623, outer darkness. Matthew 2213, divine destruction away from the presence of the Lord in the glory of his might. Second Thessalonians chapter one verse nine, in Mark nine, verses 43 through 48, Jesus himself tells us that this is an everlasting future filled with fiery agony.

At which point some people wonder, is that language literal? Is hell literal fire and sulfur? Are those just symbols? Okay, let’s assume for a second maybe even if they were just symbols. What are symbols for a week at the beach or a cozy cabin in the mountains?

No burning fire and smoking sulfur are not symbols of a nice place to be. They’re symbols of a horrifying place to be. A terrifying place that people will never, ever, ever leave. I just finished reading through Revelation in my Bible reading.

Revelation 14, 19, and 20 all include the words forever and ever think about it and ever add nothing to the meaning forever was sufficient. It’s like the spirit of God. Just put these extra words in there just to make sure we’re soaking it and it won’t ever, ever.

And Thomas Watson said, thus it is in hell. They would die, but they cannot. The wicked shall be always dying but never dead. The smoke of the furnace ascends forever and ever. Oh, who can endure this to ever be upon the rack? This word never breaks the heart and it does, doesn’t it?

Can We Understand Hell?

And who of us in this room can grasp the everlasting horror of hell? Jonathan Edwards would speak with tears in his eyes saying To help your conception, imagine yourself to be cast into a fiery oven, all of a glowing heat or in the midst of a blowing brick kiln or of a great furnace where your pain would be as much greater than that occasion by accidentally touching a coal of fire as the heat is greater.

Imagine also that your body was to lie there for a quarter of an hour full of fire as full within and without as a bright coal of fire all the while full of quick sense. What horror would you feel at the entrance of such a furnace? How long would that quarter of an hour seem to you if it were to be measured by a glass? How long would that glass seem to be running?

And after you’d endured it for one minute, how overbearing would it be for you to think that you had yet to endure the other 14? But what would be the effect on your soul if you knew you must lie there?

Enduring that torment to the full for 24 hours and how much greater would be the effect if you knew you must endure it for a whole year? And how vastly greater still if you knew you must endure this for a thousand years?

And then how would your heart sink if you thought, if you knew that you must bear it forever and ever, that there would be no end, that after millions and millions of, your torment would be no nearer to an end than ever it was and that you never, never should be delivered, but your torment in hell will be immeasurably greater than this illustration represents. How then will the heart of a poor creature sink under it?

How utterly inexpressible and inconceivable must the sinking of the soul be in such a case? This is definitely like brothers and sisters. Let us not be ignorant and let us not be indifferent. We’re not playing games with what we’re talking about at this conference. There is real eternal wrath awaiting sinners before a holy God.

We Must be Urgent

What more reason for urgency do we need than this? Go and send it because people all around us and 3.2 billion people in the world, death is coming. If you believe this book, if you follow the Savior who said these things, then settle for a nice, comfortable, casual cultural Christianity that totally forgets about the nations. Makes no sense.

Don’t leave this place and do what millions of Christians are doing all across our country, turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to 3.2 billion people and 7,000 people groups who’ve never even heard the gospel.

Don’t sit back in the land where the gospel is known and just coast it out till you get to heaven. That’s a life lived in vain. The life that counts makes the most of this mist. Praying and giving and going and getting the gospel to other people, to billions of people so that they can share in salvation no matter what that costs you or me.

Make the Most of This Life

Why? Because death is coming. Your death is coming, my death is coming, their death is coming. So let’s make this life for as long as we have it. Count on what’s going to matter forever and ever. That’s the first reason to live like this.

And the second reason to live like this is because resurrection is real. Your resurrections are real. So with the reality of death at the center of this chapter, Paul starts verse 11 verse of the chapter with the gospel, the indescribably good news that Jesus God in the flesh has died on the cross for our sins. In verse three, he was buried.

Verse four, that he has risen from the dead in victory over sin and death. Also, verse four, appears to many witnesses of whom Paul is one before ascending into heaven verses five through eight. Now if we’re not careful, what I just said can seem pretty elementary to us. Okay? Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.

And we can almost read those verses with a ho-hum sense of monotony. Like, yeah, I know that but think about that because there’s nothing ho-hum about that.

Jesus is Not Dead

Talking about a man who died a violent death, the most violent death conceivable on that day, and then after three days dead came back to life and appeared to people. Can you imagine going to a funeral this week, going to their burial, and seeing this person’s dead body placed in the ground?

Then a week later, that person physically walks up to you on the street and says, hello. That’s crazy. It’s crazy good. It’s the greatest news in all the world. Death has been defeated. May that never be a whole hum for us brothers and sisters. Jesus is not dead. He is alive. We are worshiping a risen living king in this room right now.

Now this is obviously a fundamental part of the gospel, but this was the problem at Corinth because many of these Christians had grown up with a Greek worldview that believed in the immortality of the soul but not the body.

The Soul Goes on, the Body Does Not

So Trip talked about some of this disconnect the other night, the lack of importance they placed on the body. So according to the Greek worldview, when we die, that’s the end of the story for our bodies, our soul goes on but never fills a body again.

So many of these Christians were denying that once they died, their bodies would ever be resurrected instead only their souls would live on forever. And in this chapter, Paul asked them, do you realize what you’re saying and the implications of what you’re believing?

In essence, Paul says in verses 12 and 13, as well as verse 16, if you don’t believe in the physical resurrection of your body, then you are saying Jesus himself didn’t physically rise from the dead. And then right after that, he starts talking about the implications of that. What if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead?

So think about this. You might write these down. So four unavoidable conclusions, and really tragic consequences if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead. So think about it. If Jesus was still dead, what would that mean?

Well, number one, it would mean that our faith is futile and we stand guilty before God if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead. Our faith is futile and in vain. According to verse 14, feudal is the word in verse 17. It’s pointless, it’s worthless.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead. You and I in this room have staked our entire life for eternity on the decomposed corpse of a Jewish carpenter 2000 years ago and even worse, verse 17, you’re still in your sins.

You are standing guilty before God. You say, well, I thought it was Jesus’ death on the cross that provided forgiveness for my sins. Well, yes, the cross is where we see Jesus die in the place of sinners, but the resurrection is where we see that his sacrifice has been accepted by God on behalf of sinners.

God raised him to life to show that all who trust in him will have life forever with him. This is Romans 4 25. Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and he was raised to life for our justification. And if his resurrection is not a reality, then our justification is not a reality and we stand guilty before God, then keep following the implications here. Third, if that’s the case, then our message is false and our mission is destructive.

We Must not Spread Lies.

The message we’re spreading is in vain. Paul says in verse 14, it’s not true. We’re spreading lies which makes our mission destructive. Verse 15, we’re even found to be misrepresenting God. That’s big. We’re spreading falsehoods about God.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, spreading lies about God all over our campuses, and our cities around the world, we’re defaming and dishonoring God himself. As if that’s not enough, Paul keeps going. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, this is actually the third one, that was the second third. Those who have died in Christ have been damned before God.

Paul says in verse 18, those who’ve fallen asleep in Christ have perished again. The word he uses for falling asleep there is physical death. The word he uses for parish is spiritual death, which makes sense when you put it together.

If Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, then Christians who have died were not forgiven of their sins. They were guilty before God. And as a result, they’re now experiencing eternal damnation, everlasting punishment for their sin.

Those who have died in Christ have been damned before God. And then Paul concludes even for his own life and for the lives of other followers of Jesus. If Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead, then radical going and sending to hard-to-reach places is to be pitied. In this world, living like we’re talking about is to be pitied in this world. Verse 19, if in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pitied.

Jesus Rose From the Dead

In verse 30, which I mentioned at the start, Paul talks about the danger he’s experiencing on a daily basis and the suffering he’s enduring for the spread of the gospel. He says, if Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead, I’m wasting my life.

Paul says here, in other places all throughout the New Testament, I’m embracing suffering here. I know that reward is coming. If there’s no reward in eternity, my life makes no sense on earth. If there’s no resurrection, if this life is all there is, then eat, drink, and be merry. Verse 32, which makes sense. If this life is all there is, then live it up in this world.

Make the most of this world while you still have time. A self-indulgent lifestyle makes total sense. If this life is all there is radical obedience to a dead Jewish rabbi who deceived all of his followers, makes no sense.

Live Life as a Christian

Maybe you’ve heard Pascal’s wager before Blaze. Pascal’s theory simplified that it’s better to be a Christian than a non-Christian in this world solely because of the chances. So Pascal said, if you live your life as a Christian on earth, you later come to find out that Christianity is not true.

You won’t have lost a lot because well after all, you lived a good moral life of serving and loving others. But Pascal said, if you live your life as a non-Christian in this world and in eternity you discover that Christianity was indeed true, then you’ll have lost everything and you’ll spend all of eternity in hell. So when you play the chances it’s worth it.

It’s a lot wiser to be a Christian. So Pascal said, but Paul couldn’t disagree more. You see what Pascal said might be the case if all that was involved in Christianity was living a nice, decent, cozy Christian life amidst the comforts of this world.

If that’s Christianity, then what Pascal said makes sense. But that is not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is about laying down your life and your rights. First Corinthians nine, for the spread of the gospel, it’s about embracing suffering. It’s about going to hard places, going to needy places, going to dangerous places among dangerous people.

It’s about forsaking possessions and pleasures. It’s about sacrificing comfort. It’s about taking risks and faith and all of that only makes sense if Christianity is true. Paul says, pity the way I’m living, pity the risks I’m taking, the sacrifices I’m making, and the suffering I’m enduring. Feel sorry for me. If Jesus has not risen from the dead, if Jesus has not risen from the dead, Paul says, my life makes no sense.

Make Life Worth Living

Can people say that about your life? That person’s life only makes sense if Jesus has risen from the dead. They’re living so different from everybody else in this world. They’re clearly not living for the things of this world.

Paul’s saying here would say to a room full of students today, if Jesus has not risen from the dead, then live it up in America. Live the dream. But I follow this with me. I think it’d be helpful for us not just to think about the implications if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, but let’s turn each of these around and think about the implications because Jesus was raised from the dead.

So we’ve thought about the implications that the resurrection of Christ is, but it’s true. So Paul says in verse 20, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. That’s one of the greatest buts in all the Bible. It’s like Paul brings us to the point where we consider these tragic consequences.

If Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead he brings us back to say, thankfully that’s not true. He is risen. And because Jesus was raised from the dead. Follow this, write these downs, sisters and brothers, our faith is well founded and we stand forgiven before God. Our faith is not futile.

Find Your Faith in Jesus

It’s extremely well-founded. There is no better, no wiser, no more secure, more eternally secure place to find your faith than in Jesus and in him through faith in him. You and I stand forgiven before God. We stand forgiven of all our sins before God. Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and he was raised to life for our justification.

And in light of this, hear this, our message is true then and our mission is urgent. We have seen and we know the one who’s conquered death and he has conquered death on behalf of sinners around the world and those sinners around the world are dying and you and I have a short amount of time.

So we go and we send with urgency in this mission and confidence that those who’ve died in Christ before us now dwell with God. We go and we send because all who’ve gone before us and have trusted in Jesus, though they have died, they now live.

Defying Death

And that’s the hope for which we now live. So we give our lives, we take risks. We defy death itself because we know that a life of radical mission is not to be pitied in this world. No, because Jesus was raised from the dead.

Radical going and sending to hard-to-reach places is to be envied in this world. When you know you know and you know that Jesus has risen from the dead, that no matter where he leads, no matter what it costs the proclamation of this good news in difficult, dangerous, to reach places that haven’t heard this good news is the most enviable life in this world. It’s not in vain.

It’s the life that counts for what matters forever and ever, which leads to the last reason to be a radical goer or sinner. So death is coming, and resurrection is real. And why go sin live for the spread of the gospel to all the nations?

The Resurrection of Jesus

Third, because of where all history is headed, where all history is headed. You look right in the heart of this chapter and you’ll see a timeline of history starting in verse 23. Look at it. Paul calls the resurrection of Jesus the first fruit. In other words, they’re the first part of the harvest. They’re the promise of more harvest that’s coming, more fruit to come.

So Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit. It’s the sign of what’s to come and when he returns, so at his coming, those who belong to Christ shall be made alive like him. And at his return, verse 24, this will usher in the end when he will deliver the kingdom of God to the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

Verse 26 says the last enemy to be destroyed is death. So follow this. This is where all of history is headed to the day when Jesus will fully destroy death.

Conquering Death

And it’s not that he hasn’t already conquered it in a sense at his resurrection, but as we all know and have talked about, people still die. Death is still a reality in this world, but there’s coming a day when death itself will no longer be the end of this chapter. So triumphant, behold, I tell you a mystery, not all are going to sleep.

Not all are going to die because one day in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, trumpets are going to sound from the sky. The dead in Christ will be raised to live with him. Those who are alive in Christ will rise with them and the saying shall come to pass.

Death has been swallowed up forever. Think about it. No more cancer, no more COVID-19, no more car accidents, no more suicides, no more starvation or hunger or trafficking or wars. No more suffering. There’s coming a day when death itself will have no more sting at all.

Jesus Will Destroy Death

Jesus will fully destroy death and not just that, he will physically raise us to life. All have trusted in Jesus. The Bible teaches when we die, our bodies are buried but our souls persist. The picture we have in scripture is the souls of believers upon death. What happens when they die?

Immediately enter into the presence of God where they’re clearly conscious and continually interceding and constantly worshiping and eagerly waiting for Jesus to return. And they’re waiting because the story’s not over for them yet.

They’re waiting and longing for Jesus to come back because when he does, their bodies will be physically raised to life with their souls. And it’s this physical resurrection body that Paul’s talking about here. Because as I mentioned, many of these Corinthian believers thought only the soul was immortal.

But he’s making clear that wasn’t the case with Jesus, his body has risen and it’s not the case with Christians, our bodies will be risen. This is so important even for how we think about or talk about heaven. Sometimes people say when somebody dies, I’ll never have the opportunity to hug my mom or dad or friend or spouse again.

That is not true for all who have died in Christ, you’ll physically hug those people with physically resurrected bodies. They were in Christ. You will hug them, see them, and love them in more glorious ways than ever did on this earth.

Praise God

We’re all going to get to hug Martin Burnham put our arms around him and praise God for him. And feel the hope here as you think about those who’ve died in Christ in your life before you. And even when you and I think about where we’re going to spend eternity, don’t think about that place merely in spiritual terms.

Heaven is not some ethereal, otherworldly picture where we’re all sitting on clouds in the sky and a spirit world like no, the Bible picture’s a very earthly heaven, a new earth where we’ll have physically resurrected bodies in a real physical world.

I think if we’re honest, many of us when we think about heaven, have a pretty boring picture of what it’s going to look like. What are we going to do? Stand around with each other and sing songs and stare at the light for a quadrillion years?

What is Heaven?

And the answer the Bible gives us, no, this is not endless choir practice and robes that we’re going to. It’s a place where we’re going to experience the fulfillment of all our God-given desires in a new earth, complete earth as we dwell in perfect communion with God in a kingdom where we rule in a universe, and we explore in people we enjoy perfectly.

This chapter talks about how our resurrection bodies will be recognizable and imperishable immortal beautiful and powerful. I was emailing this week with Johnny Erickson, one of my favorite writers in the world.

She has written a book, it’s coming out sometime next year. So she’s quadriplegic has been for decades and she’s written a book about the nights, which is most every night. She’s just miserable in pain and in the middle of the night with nobody else around. And she’s written a book about the songs she sings during those moments just between her and Jesus in the middle of pain.

The Resurrected Body

And it made me think about my favorite quote from her talking about a resurrected body. She says I hope in some way I can take my wheelchair to heaven with my new glorified body. I’ll stand up on resurrected legs and I’ll be next to the Lord Jesus and I’ll feel those nail prints in his hands and I will say, thank you, Jesus.

He will know I mean it because he’ll recognize me from the inner sanctum of sharing in the fellowship of his sufferings. He will see that I was one who identified with him in the sharing of his sufferings. So my gratitude will not be hollow.

And then I’ll say, Lord Jesus, do you see that wheelchair over there? Well, you were right when you put me in it. It was a lot of trouble. But the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you and the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you too, I do not think I would’ve ever known the glory of your grace.

Were it not for the weakness of that wheelchair? So thank you Lord Jesus for that. And now if you like, you can send that thing off to hell.

Death Will Be Overcome

Do you realize what’s going to happen? Jesus is going to come back fully to destroy death and physically raise us to life. Verse 24 says that, for every rule and every authority and power, including verse 25, death itself will be overcome.

In other words, keep going here where all of history is headed, the enemies of God will all be defeated. This must happen. Paul says in verse 25, which is another way of saying this will happen. How do we know this?

Because the God of history has ordained this and he has ordained it for his own glory. Verse 28, when all things are subjected to him, him being Christ the Son and the son himself will also be subjected to him. We put all things in subjection under him that God may be all in all. This is where all of history is headed. It’s exactly what Philippians chapter two says.

Every knee will bow and heaven on earth and run the earth. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. All history is headed toward the day when God alone will be worshiped and praised by a people composed of every tribe, tongue, and nation of the earth. So you want your life to count in this world.

Paul asked, live your life for that day. This is where the train of history is headed. So jump on that train. To send, spread this good news with the little bit of life you have, knowing that death is coming for you and for others.

That resurrection is real for all who trust in Jesus. And that all of history is headed toward the day when the enemies of God will finally be defeated and the glory of God will forever be exalted. What other reason are you going to give your life to than this right here?

You want your life to count in this world, fix your eyes on where this world is headed, and live to that end. Revelation five, revelation seven, every nation, tribe, and tongue represented around the throne of Jesus singing salvation belongs to the lamb, glory belongs to God. So we come to this moment of decision then how is Jesus leading you to live for that day

Be A Missionary

In just a moment. If you would say today, I believe I need to communicate to my church a desire to go as a missionary for the spread of the gospel among the nations. In just a moment. If you would say that, I’m going to invite you to stand and we’re going to pray for you.

And if you sense God is saying to you, as far as you know, I’m calling you to stay, to make disciples where you live in your culture and to work to send other sisters and brothers across cultures, that I’m going to invite you to stay seated and to be content and confident in that. Again, this is not a call for a two-tiered class of Christians.

It’s to call for obedience to Christ. We’ve prayed that God would raise laborers for his harvest during these days. This is a call for laborers to go to harvest fields that are waiting to hear the gospel. So in this holy moment, if you believe God may be setting you apart to go as a missionary who crosses barriers for the spread of the gospel among the nations, you’re going to pursue that possibility of the local church. Then I want to invite you to stand wherever you are in this room right now.

Pray for All

In just a second, I’m going to lead us to pray for those who are standing. But before I do that, I want to speak to all of us sitting or sin. This mission is worth our lives. For those of you who are standing, it’s worth it.

Pray that just like I was talking about on the panel, somebody who stood in a setting like this and 20 years later gave themselves to that, facing challenges, still pressing on. And God would give you grace toward that end to keep abiding in him day after day after day toward that end and where he might lead.

And then all who are sitting there would be faithful sinners and we would not leave the sacrifice to them. We would show the church here what it looks like to live for this brother, the gospel among the nations. So let’s model that right now.

Pray for the Goers

I want to ask those who are sitting to rise and gather around those who are standing. And I want us to spend just a few minutes all across this room praying for those who are, if you stand your goer, I want you to pray for the senders and sinner want you to pray for the goer. So put your hands on each other’s shoulders or whatever.

But just pray for each other, goers, praying for senders, senders praying for goers. Spend time right now just interceding for each other, saying together, we’re in this together. Let’s just lift our voices all across this room together for each other, for the nations that after you prayed for a few minutes, then I’ll lead us corporately in prayer.

Go for it. Oh God, we praise you for this holy moment, this overwhelming sense that we stand in a long line going back to scenes like Acts chapter 13 on your Spirit spoke is sent out and we know what you did in Acts 13 on that day, revolutionized the Roman empire, the spread of the gospel in ways nobody in Antioch on that day I don’t think could have imagined.

We Praise God’s Glory

So, God, we ask boldly for that. And humbly, humbly, God, we praise you. You are all-sufficient. You’re self-existent. You don’t need us. We’re not necessary to you. We praise you for your self-existent glory, calling us to yourself, pursuing us in love, and inviting us to be a part of what you are doing in the world. So we say yes all across this room. Yes, we love you, we trust you.

We hallow your name and we want to see your name hallowed in all the earth. We want to see your kingdom come. Jesus. We want to see your return. We want to see your face. We want to see the destruction of death. We want to be physically raised in a new life with you.

We want to see the enemies of you, God defeated and your glory exalted by every nation and tribe and tongue. So we pray, please, please use our lives in the days to come, however you will.

Toward that end, we pray for those who have stood today, God, that you would give them discernment in the days ahead. You would give them good local churches to come alongside them and help them discern and walk with them through your calling in their lives.

And we pray that you will lead and guide them every step. Help them to abide in you daily, to abide in you to draw into deeper, deeper intimacy with you on a daily basis. God, we pray that over them. Don’t let the enemy, the adversary snatch away what you’re doing in their hearts.

Make Us Faithful Disciples

Please, God, hold them fast and keep them and lead them and guide them in the days to come in ways far beyond what they could ask or imagine. And God, we, especially in light of hearing gracious shares today, have this sober sense of what you might lead different ones to do and to endure.

We pray you would give them revelation like patient endurance and faithful endurance to proclaim the gospel in our places. In God we pray you would help all who are staying sending help us to be faithful, to make disciples right here. Help us to be faithful, to lead out in healthy churches right here, that are sending them out, that are reaching the nations that you’ve brought here, that are giving, sacrificing for the spread of the gospel where it hasn’t gone.

God, please help us not to be wooed by this dream that surrounds us. All the messages in this world beckon us to live for what won’t matter forever. God helps us to spur that kind of life and to live for what matters forever and ever.

Let Us Spread God’s Word

And God, we pray that as a result of our lives and our partnership together in the gospel as goers and we pray, God, the Berber of Morocco would be reached, and Uyghurs of East Asia, Saudis and Emiratis and Sudanese, blo and Pakistan and Yadis. God, we pray for 7,000 people, groups who’ve yet to be reached with the gospel.

God, we pray that you would use our lives in this room to make a dent in that number. Please, God, please, please use us to cause your gospel. We may know among people who’ve never heard it in our going and sending God, we pray that there will be people who hear the gospel for the first time because of what you’ve done during these few days among us.

And what’s just happened in people standing as goers and then being surrounded as sins? God, be glorified in us as your church we pray. Help us to live for what matters forever. We surrender, commit our lives to you and we say You are worthy.

You’re worthy, our Lord and God, to receive honor and wealth and power and wisdom and glory forever and ever and ever from all the nations. We love you, God. And we pray that you would use our lives to make your love and your glory known in the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray and all of God’s people said, amen. Amen. We praise God for his spirit’s work among us.