1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Sermon. April 4, 2021. Easter Sunday, Grace-Benson, Grace-Vail Every so often, as a Christian, you need to be told to raise your level of expectation. About what Christ has done, is doing, and will do more of in your life. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 is telling you to raise your level of expectation of what’s possible, what’s real because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. If you don’t get this view from people like Paul, it’s easy to get bogged down in life, and settle for far less than Christ gives. Think of this illustration. There are 2 people, both home owners. Both have to do maintenance on their homes. Basement. Plumbing. Siding, roofing, paint. How do they feel about the maintenance they have to do? That depends largely on what kind of house they live in. 1 lives in a mansion with a view of the ocean and the mountains. All kinds of luxuries and comforts, every room is spacious and just as they want it. The other lives in a small old house in the middle of the city. Window with a brick wall 2 feet away. Outside is pollution, litter, crime. Inside everything is too small. For the one, maintenance will be a small cost to pay for a beautiful mansion. For the other, maintenance will be yet another reason to hate the place where they live. When it comes to your life as a Christian, your faith; are you living in a mansion, or a run down house? 1 Corinthians 15 says, you are living in a mansion. This is the view from the porch which will enable you to do the maintenance of life with a different attitude and spirit. A lot of life is maintenance. Even your faith. God tells you things like, read my Word, pray to me, think about me in life, worship and talk about me. Sometimes those things will not be exciting, they’ll feel like maintenance. You need to remember all that Christ gives you. Paul in 1 Cor 15 raises your expectations by telling you that Christ is the last Adam. Let’s explore that phrase: Christ is the last Adam how? 1. He is the Firstfruits. 2. He makes you a Mirror. 3. He is the Substitute. Christ is the last Adam because he is the firstfruits. Verse 21-23 “Since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” Firstfruits was a very important in agricultural cultures. Today, even our farmers are not entirely dependent on the harvest. Other types of insurances and finances that make it possible to make a living by farming. At certain times and places, societies had all their wealth basically tied to the harvest, all their hopes for the future. The first part of the harvest was a taste of the future. Good harvest = good future. Really a reason to celebrate. Bad harvest = at least financial ruin; at worst starvation and death. When you plant, you don’t know what the harvest will be like. When the time comes to do the first harvesting, you can tell what the rest will be like. Either a time of rejoicing, or worrying. There is a firstfruits principle with the human race.
There are firstfruits of the 1st man, Adam. God gave Adam and Eve a perfect world, an opportunity to obey and serve him in that perfect world. Every reason to harvest nothing but joy and life and peace. And instead, Adam by his disobedience brought the firstfruits of thorns, pain in childbirth, homelessness, death, separation from God. Terrible firstfruits, all of us have been living in the consequence, and basically, by ourselves, the same thing happens in our lives. We have opportunities, and we blow them. We have chances to obey God, and we don’t, and we harvest more death, pain, separation, isolation. Really bad human harvest. Genesis 3 tells us how it started. 1 Corinthians 15 is the answer to Genesis 3. The last Adam brings a different firsftruit than the 1st Adam. Jesus came not into a perfect paradise, but into a world torn by violence and jealousy and pride. He brought a perfectly obedient life, displayed by healing the sick, calming storms, teaching that the kingdom of heaven had come near to people in this world again. Then he took his perfect life and let people crucify him, so that the firstfruits of his death and resurrection could be life and hope for all people. Death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. In Adam all die, in Christ all will be made alive. Jesus changes what’s possible when physical death comes. By doing that, he opens up not just the possibility, but the reality that those who die connected to him through faith will physically rise again. Instead of a harvest of death, Jesus brought a harvest of life. He changes the way you can approach death, which changes the way you can approach each day of the life you have here. Not only that; reverses the effect of the first Adam on the entire created universe. Notice he says, 1st Christ, then those who belong to him, but doesn’t stop there. “He will destroy all dominion, power, and authority, he will hand over this renewed kingdom to his father, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death itself.” He will renew the universe. Resurrect the universe. A new heavens and a new earth. All the power structures that push people down and oppress people, will be done. Even the tyrant death itself will be utterly defeated. Christ’s resurrection promises you: deathless life, no oppression, no thorns, no pain, no homelessness. Instead fruit, relationships that bring joy, a home, human thriving in communities and culture. Do you see how we need to be challenges about our low expectations of Jesus, and faith in him? Jesus does not just promise you a lift to get you over the bumps of life, a boost in a positive direction. He promises a whole new you. A new race, a new creation. A total purging of all that’s wrong and remaking of all that’s right, including the physical. And he has already done the defining thing that must happen to change you and the universe. The firstfruits is a taste of the future. You don’t get the whole harvest yet; but you get a taste of it. Like the firstfruits. Adam’s sin was a taste of the future, disastrous. Jesus’ resurrection which happened in time, was a taste of the future as well. What he did back then assures you of what is to
come, gives you a taste of it today, no matter what you’re dealing with. His past achievement invades your future, and your future invades your present. Jesus is the last Adam because he makes you a mirror. A piece of paper, or a wooden surface doesn’t do that. A mirror does. Turn a mirror toward a flower, it reflects a flower, turn it toward a weed, it reflects a weed. Turn it toward a monster, it reflects the monster. Turn it toward a beauty, it reflects a beauty. We all were created as mirrors. Your purpose in life is a result of what you are turned toward. You were meant to be turned toward God, so that you would reflect Him and his glory. But we all have the ability and the natural compulsion to be turned toward self. To be turned toward human praise, power, pleasure. To follow the first Adam. We get stuck, like a mirror stuck pointed at a monster, needing to be turned but unable to turn itself. Christ’s resurrection re-orients you to reflect the glory of God. Another way to say this is: His resurrection renews the image of God in you. The image of God is holiness and righteousness, ability to serve him as you were made to do. Ephesians and Colossians talk about the image of God being renewed in you. To do this Jesus had to be a mirror who reflected your sin, and it looked like the terrible crucifixion that he endured. Yet he also rose from the dead that you may reflect him and his glory. God wants you to reflect the living Christ. 2 Corinthians 3 describes it this way. “We all with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of God, being transformed into the same image.” The resurrection of Jesus shows you that your purpose is not to accumulate more praise, pleasure or power; but to reflect God’s nature when and where he has put you. And you can actually believe it’s possible again. His resurrection turns you toward God again. A mirror not only reflects what it’s turned toward, but it takes in the light, and casts the light off again. A mirror can be a light enhancer. The movie “The Mummy,” had a scene of a treasure room. It was all dark, until one mirror got turned just right and caught the sun, and it sent off a beam of light to another mirror which reflects the light to another, and the room lights up. Mythbusters tested this out, and it actually can work if you have the mirrors lined up correctly. Mirrors cast off light, and you see things differently as a result. You are meant to cast off the light of Jesus, so that others catch it, and they cast it off, and other human mirrors catch it. But it’s as if your sinfulness gets you off alignment with the sunbeam of God’s glory, and you can’t realign yourself. Jesus’ resurrection realigns you to God again. His death absorbs the darkness of sin. The resurrection is the new light, the new type of life shining. Whose light are you giving off ? The first Adam, or the last Adam? Do you need an alignment adjustment? When you see Jesus’ life given to you, it changes the way you see life and death, and everything else in between.
Christ makes you a mirror, to renew your purpose, your perspective, and also your power. Mirror resembles what it is pointed toward. Has a power depending on what it reflects. If a mirror is in a dark room, not any power. But in a light room in which it can reflect something beautiful and put off light, it becomes more powerful Jesus resurrection renews your power source. Christ’s resurrection means you have the ultimate resources to grow and contribute to the well being of others. And to change in ways that might seem impossible for you. The change is at times slow and gradual. God decides not to totally change you in a day. But he is determined to make you a brand new you, from the bottom up, soul first, then even your body. He will not stop until he completes the project. Your death which brings immediate new life for your soul, and your physical resurrection are two gigantic steps in the process; be he says, the process of change starts right now and continues every day. In other words: Don’t settle for life being a dump. Don’t ever say to yourself, I will never change. Christ will change you. He has promises. Maybe not on your timeline, but he will do it. If you get to a point at which you realize that your limitations are reached, it’s time to let him do what only he can do. Allow you to physically die so that he can physically resurrect you to new life. Don’t settle for a life of sinful habits in which you keep hurting the people you love and yourself. Jesus says, a new power has been unleashed. Again and again, the power for this is tied directly to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not your power but his. Real change is not only possible, but real in Jesus. Right now Jesus promises you: I can give you more than you can imagine or ask for. Don’t get overly bogged down in the mundane. Get out on the porch every so often and remind yourself that Jesus is a mansion. Finally, all of this is true because Jesus is a Substitute. Really another way of saying, he’s the last Adam. An illustration: imagine a mountain scene, and 4 or 5 people tied together. It’s a dangerously high mountain slope. All are tied together so that if one of them falls, they are connected and can pull each other up. But imagine that the first person at the end falls off the mountain, and the next one in line doesn’t know. The weight of the first one pulls the second one off the mountain. Everyone falls one by one, until only one man is left; still attached to the rest. And he sees what’s happening, he knows what’s coming. So he branches himself. With a mighty stroke of the ax, he digs in and waits. Finally the rope tightens on him and he bears the weight of them all. He holds on, the rope crushes him, cuts into him shredding his skin. He bears all the weight of their falleness, and holds on. Then, little by little, he begins to climb, the rest of them are saved as a result. Just as Adam fell and pulled us all one by one, we needed one man to be part of the human web, connected but not fallen who could bear the weight of all our fallenness. Jesus is the one, the last man on the mountain. He was crushed for our iniquity. All the weight falls on him, but all his stability gets transferred to us.
I’ll end by asking, what’s the rope? The rope to Adam is your birth, your physical nature. The rope to Jesus is faith, a spiritual connection which one day and even now slowly can become physical as well. Starts with faith. Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? That faith however small, as small as a mustard seed, can grow and affect more and more of you, and show you, you’re right now living in a mansion, not a slum. Yes there is some maintenance to be done; but look at what you get. How foolish would it be for the mansion owner to refuse to do the maintenance, and as a result the mansion becomes a dump? Do you believe in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead? If so, you have a firstfruits, you’re a mirror, and a substitute. With Jesus, your life is a mansion on the porch. Even with the maintenance that’s needed, remember Jesus’ resurrection. Amen.