1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-28 – “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.”
THEME OF THE DAY: REMEMBER WHERE THE CROSS LEADS. The fifteenth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians may well be labeled “The Christian’s Chapter of Life and Hope.” Within its contents is the fundamental doctrine of Christianity – the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. In his book, Man Alive, Michael Green said this of the importance of Christ’s resurrection to our faith . . .
“Christianity does not hold the Resurrection to be one among many tenets of belief. Without faith in the Resurrection there would be no Christianity at all. The Christian church would never have begun; the Jesus-movement would have fizzled out like a damp squib with His execution. Christianity stands or falls with the truth of the Resurrection. Once disprove it, and you have disposed of Christianity.”
But the resurrection isn’t just for us to look into the sky for Jesus and then grind out this hard life on earth. No, the resurrection is for daily living. Remember, Jesus didn’t stay on His cross. He was taken to an empty tomb, and remember this also, He didn’t stay there. He rose. He lived and He lives. And the resurrection of Jesus becomes the power source for the Christian life. The Apostle Paul relied upon this truth, and it became an essential part of his testimony . . .
“That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” (Philippians 3:10).
The reason the resurrection of our Lord is the power source for the Christian life is because of our union in Christ. If one were to mark how many times the Apostle Paul mentions a Christian as a person “in Christ”, “in Christ Jesus”, and “in Him”, it numbers over 160 times in his letters. Such union with Christ is how he defined what it means to be a Christian. And if we are in Christ, that means the power of Christ’s life AND resurrection is available to us, every waking moment and with every trial and temptation!
So, the resurrection of our Lord is not just a doctrine to believe but a truth to live. And it begins with remembering where the cross leads – a tomb that would be empty in three days!
PRAYER: Father, forgive me when I allow the difficulties in this life to cloud my view and hope of the next life.
REFLECTION: Keep our eyes on heaven and Jesus not our circumstances, trials, and suffering. Joy comes if we do.