November 20, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Louis Albert Banks tells of an elderly Christian
man, a fine singer, who learned that he had cancer of the tongue and that
surgery was required. In the hospital after everything was ready for the
operation, the man said to the doctor, "Are you sure I will never sing again?"
The surgeon found it difficult to answer his question. He simply shook his head
no. The patient then asked if he could sit up for a moment. "I've had many
good times singing the praises of God," he said. "And now you tell me
I can never sing again. I have one song that will be my last. It will be of
gratitude and praise to God." There in the doctor's presence the man sang
softly the words of Isaac Watts' hymn, "I'll praise my Maker while I've
breath, And when my voice is lost in death, Praise shall employ my nobler
power; My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and
being last, Or immortality endures." [1]
Though we may not be facing the prospect of losing
our ability to sing or praise the Lord our God, today as we have gathered in
worship on this Christ the King Sunday, we have gathered one more time to give
praise to Christ our King. We have
gathered to give praise to the Lord our God and Jesus Christ who is our Savior
and our King because he is the one who has freed us from sin and death by his
death and resurrection from the dead. We
have gathered to give praise to Christ our King because he is the one who has
promised that through faith in him we will be given the gift of eternal life by
his side forever in his heavenly kingdom.
We have gathered to give praise to Christ our King because we know that
on the Last Day, when he returns in glory and judgment, he will raise our
bodies from the ground, glorify them, reunite our bodies and souls and take us,
once again, to live with him forever in his heavenly kingdom.
In fact, these are the very things that the Apostle
Paul is writing about in our lesson today.
So if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open your Bibles with
me to our lesson in 1 Corinthians 15 beginning with verse 20. Now, as you are turning to 1 Corinthians 15,
let me set the stage for you. As Paul
wrote the words of our lesson today, the Christians in Corinth were having a
little bit of trouble with the concept of the resurrection. You see, the Corinthians were still rather
new in their faith and they were having a bit of a struggle getting past their
Greek logic, which told them that there was nothing after death, because death
was simply the end of a person. Because
of this, they were even having a tough time understanding and holding on to the
idea that Jesus had risen from the dead.
It was because of this that Paul writes as he does in our lesson
today. “20 But Christ has indeed been
raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For
since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through
a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But
each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who
belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God
the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he
must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy
to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now
when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this
does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 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.”(1 Corinthians 15:20–28, NIV84)
In such a beautiful, simple, and straight forward
way, the Apostle Paul assures us that we have every reason to praise Christ as
our King because he is the one who was raised from death to the glory of God
the Father. Not only is he the one who
was raised from death to the glory of God the Father, he is the one who will
also awaken each and every one of us from the sleep of death and raise our
bodies from the ground on the last day.
He is writing to assure us of this very simple and very important truth,
because you and I are really no different than the Corinthians of Paul’s
day. We too, are living in a sin-filled
world which is constantly seeking to convince us that we only go around once
and after that, we die. We are living in
a world that is doing everything it can to convince us that there is no
afterlife, that there is no resurrection, and that death is the end of
everything.
But as Christians, we know that death isn’t the end
of everything. We know and believe that
death is only the beginning of our eternal life with Christ, and that is why
Paul’s words are so comforting to us this morning. They are so comforting because they assure us
that even though death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes
also through a man. They assure us that
even though we will all die because we are Adam’s descendants, in Christ, we
will all be made alive. They assure us
that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also will Christ our King
raise us up on the last day! Though one
day we will all close our eyes in the sleep of death, our Savior has promised
us that our souls will be carried to his side where we will live with our King
forever. Though one day our bodies will
rest in the earth where they will decay and return to the dust they came from,
we know that when our Savior returns, He will raise our bodies from their
graves. We know that in the same way a
car enthusiast will resurrect a rusted frame from a junkyard, Christ will raise
our bodies from the ground. In the same
way that the enthusiast will work on that vehicle, refurbishing and restoring
it until it is in better than mint condition, so also Christ will restore our
bodies to their perfect sinless condition.
Then, when our King has glorified our bodies, he will reunite our soul
and body, and in that day he will destroy death forever.
Take a look, once more, at those beautiful words in
our lesson today, beginning with verse 22:
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But
each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who
belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God
the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he
must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy
to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:22-27, NIV84)
What greater reason could there be for us to give
praise to Christ our King than the assurance Paul gives us that he who has
freed us from sin and death by his resurrection from the dead, will also, one
day, completely destroy death on the day he returns! As Christians, this is the day to which we
are looking forward! We are looking
forward to the day when Christ our King returns and destroys death
forever. We are looking forward to it,
because death is still the enemy, which gives us the most heartache and
grief. Death is the enemy that makes us
look up to the skies and cry out in sorrow: “Why, Lord? Why have you taken my loved one from
me?” Death is the enemy that makes us
long for our Savior’s return. Though we
have grown accustom to death because death has become a part of life, death it
is not something that our Savior ever intended us to face. Rather death came into this world as a result
of sin, and because of sin we all must face it one day. But even though we will all close our eyes in
death one day, we can take comfort in the knowledge that Christ, our King, has
already conquered it. For as Paul tells
us a little later on in this chapter, “ ‘Death has been swallowed up in
victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your
victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
This is the victory which Christ, our King, won for
us when he went to the cross. For on
that cross Christ endured the anguish and torment of hell itself in order to
pay the price of our sins. On that
cross, satan bruised Christ’s heal as Christ fulfilled the Scriptures and feed
us from the power of the devil. On that cross,
though it seemed that death had finally been victorious and conquered the Son
of God as Jesus cried out, “It is finished”, Jesus actually defeated death by
giving up his own life. During those few
days when Jesus body lay in the tomb and we thought that all hope was lost,
Jesus was proclaiming his victory over the devil and all his evil angels. Then, on the third day, Jesus shattered
whatever victory death might seem to have had by doing what no other human
being has ever been able to do. On that day,
Jesus took back his life and rose from the dead. Though death will still give us grief and
sorrow, because of Christ’s victory we know that it is nothing more than a
sleep from which we will awaken in heaven.
Though it will still hurt to say farewell to our friends and loved ones
when their times come, we know that death is nothing more than a doorway from
this life to eternal life. Though death
is still an unnatural event that our Lord never intended us to face, because of
Jesus’ victory we are looking forward to the last day when he will destroy
death forever.
Yes, on that day, Christ our King will place all
power and all dominion under his feet, destroying them forever, as our lesson
tells us beginning with verse 24, “Then the end will come, when he hands over
the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority
and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his
feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.(1 Corinthians 15:24–26,
NIV84)
What a great day that will be, the day when our
Savior-King returns in his glory to take us to be with him forever! For on that day he will raise our bodies from
the grave, glorify them, and reunite them with our souls. On that day he will bring the end of all
powers, authority, and dominion as he finally and completely destroys death
forever. So, as you leave here today,
remember this fact. As you go through
the week making all your Thanksgiving preparations give praise to the Lord. When Sunday comes again and you are getting
ready for church, remember how your Savior will raise you up on the last day
when he destroys death forever, and give praise to Christ, your King.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
