“ If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians 15:19.
My Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord,
With the rising of the sun this morning we enter a very special week in the life of the Church. This is Resurrection Week, or ‘Holy Week’ as it is referred to most often. And as we awaken and get another week off to a fresh start, we look forward to the celebration of our Savior’s bodily resurrection this coming Sunday morning.
I am sure that most of us will be very familiar with the penultimate chapter in Paul’s first letter to the saints at Corinth. The fifty-eight verses in this chapter are saturated in the theme of our Lord’s resurrection, its foundation in real history, its centrality in the Gospel message, its provability, its sweeping implications for all of life, and its daily practicality as the very anchor of our hope and of our security in a most volatile world.
Perhaps like many of you, I have always been intrigued by the Apostle’s words in verse 19. Here he speaks of the utter futility and uselessness of hoping “ in Christ” in “ this life only” (NASB).
The context makes it apparent that he has in view a shallow ‘belief’ in Christ that is divorced from the historical truthfulness of His resurrection (see vv. 12-18). As hard as it may be to hear, his argument is that if the Savior we love, worship, and trust only lived and died but did not rise from death on the third day, then we Christians are the most pitiable lot on earth!
This claim seems to echo his words in verse 14:
“ if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is vain.”
And, if this were not enough, there is the blunt statement of verses 16-18:
“ For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
It all comes down to one Sunday morning at the scene of a borrowed tomb in the year 33 AD. If that crucified Man whose lifeless body had been placed there on Friday afternoon did not come out of that tomb before dawn on the first day of the week, then this day, like every day before it, will offer only a mirage-like hope.
Life, your life and mine, will be an illusion. Whatever happiness and fulfilment we might experience is only momentary. Hope itself is not real! Whatever we hope in or hope for will be proven vacuous at the time of our death. The universe, ruled by chance as it is, will have the last laugh on us. We will die. That’s what’s coming. Some will die quickly without warning. Others will see it coming. But arrive it will. And when it gets here there is nothing! Death, and with it personal extinction, win every time, for no one in the history of the world has ever escaped “ this life” alive!
The inescapable conclusion is that in order to cope with this devastating reality, any religion or philosophy will do. Whatever gives you some illusory semblance of purpose or hope is all that’s needed. From the endless menu of ‘isms’ and beliefs you may freely choose, but in the end there is no difference between them at all! “May the Force be with you,” “Allahu Akbar,” “Jesus loves you,” “Have a nice day,” or “Good luck” are fundamentally indistinguishable, and it doesn’t matter anyway!
Oh, but we know better than this!
This morning we join our voices and hearts with the Apostle in the announcement that “ Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep” (15:20).
Of course, this means that our preaching and our faith have not been in vain, that we who have believed upon the Lord are loved, redeemed, and justified! And because of this we enter today like every day; with a substantive hope that extends far beyond “ this life” and even into eternity!
My beloved, the empty tomb of our Lord is the guarantee that this day, and this week, will be one of triumph and joy! Since our Savior lives, there is nothing that has the power to reduce us to such a miserable state that onlookers may justly claim that we are to be pitied! Come what may, every experience–even that of the severest suffering or persecution imaginable–will have no effect upon our hope in Christ!
Today we,
“ greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).
And we,
“ consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
How? Because we know that,
“ Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” and “ He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)!
The truth is, the only people who should be pitied and looked upon with brokenhearted compassion are those who do not believe this one magnificent fact: that two-thousand years ago the Beloved and Only-Begotten Son of God was raised from the dead!
But for us who know and have experienced the transforming power of this greatest of Truths, we need no pity, and we need not wallow in self-pity or despair either! For our Savior lives! And we are His, forever! And that’s all that matters today, in ” this life“!
I love you more than words could ever express,
Mike