Your labor is not in vain

1 Corinthians 15:14-32, 56-58 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are 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 are still in your sins. Then those also 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 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. 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, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 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." The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Rev. Dan Whang

Paul is presenting the evidence for the essential resurrection of Christ. This is central to those who believe  in the hope that is found in Jesus. All our prayers, ministry, and lives would be in vain. The resurrection is real and it powers our entire lives.

Application

We can live our lives recklessly.

In christ, we have final victory. No matter what happens, when jesus returns God will restore all things.

Paul lived his life in danger and trials. He placed all his hope in the final resurrection. He accepted a hard and painful ministry because he was convinced of Jesus' resurrection.

The safe and calculated life is contrary to the resurrection.

For those who are promised eternal reward, holding tightly to things of the world looks nonsensical.

Be immovable.

Do not be discouraged by setbacks.
Do not stop striving in ministry.

Changed lives in Luke: From doubt, to dancing, to destiny

Luke 24:36-53 ESV

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace to you!"  But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."  And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."  Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Deals with their doubt

It was very hard for the disciples to believe that someone would rise from the dead in the middle of history. They were expecting resurrection at the end, not the middle. They were expecting a winning Messiah who would deliver them from the Romans. The disciples couldn't wrap their minds around this idea. The women were confused at finding an empty tomb. The disciples didn't believe the women when they came back and recounted the visit to the tomb.

Jesus had to persuade them. He showed them his wounds. He did this patiently. He even ate some fish to prove that He was bodily risen. He was no ghost. He had physically returned from death. He gave evidence to address doubts. The Christian faith is a reasonable faith. We do not discard reason when we come to faith.

Jesus invites you to investigate the faith.

Gives them a reason to dance

If the resurrection is true, it is the greatest news. It means that we too will rise from the dead. Jesus' resurrection means we also will rise. Not only that, but also in the same manner. We will be bodily and physically returned. There will be much similarity to the current life. Eating, nature, cities, neighbors. But also important differences. No death, pain, or brokenness. Take your perfect day here and multiply out by infinity. It well pale in comparison.

Jesus had planned to suffer and die. That was why he came. In atheistic thinking, suffering has no meaning. Sucks to be you. Just bad luck. But Jesus shows us that suffering has meaning. When Jesus died, the disciples thought they had lost everything. They had wasted their years for nothing. Jesus came back to show them that suffering was for a reason. They and we were saved by Christ's suffering. The joy of heaven will be magnified by the suffering of this life. All the suffering and pain of Jesus plays a part in saving us. When we come to the resurrection, all of our sufferings and pains will make sense. Or joy will be even greater.

Sets them on their destiny

Jesus calls them to share the good news for the rest of their lives. This call is not only for the disciples. It is also for us. This is how we treat good news; we want to share it.

We are called to give up our lives. The truth is that we have everything in Christ. So we can lose status, money, power, respect, even our lives...because we know all the important things are secure in Christ. Even when we lose our lives, God will give it back to us.

Every menial task, when done with the heart and intention of sharing the love of Christ, is a great work. The Holy Spirit empowers all these things. It is not us, but the Spirit working through us.

The Gospel: Hope for the Crushed

[John 11:1-44]

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

A passage from "Too Good to be True" by Michael Horton...

"At the age of seventy-eight, James Horton had been diagnosed with a benign brain tumor that required immediate surgery. At first, a shunt released some of the fluid on his brain, but a further surgery was necessary to excise the rapidly growing lump before it interrupted vital brain functions. This surgery failed, and before long we realized that my father would not recover.

He lived for nearly a year, however, almost paralyzed from head to toe. Since even his face had lost muscular control, his eyelids drooped, exposing their red interior. It was as if his whole face had melted like wax, and we could hardly recognize him-except for the eyes, which were always filled with emotion, usually unspeakable pain. But occasionally, and more frequently toward the end, they evidenced hope and a confidence that came from another place.

We prayed for weeks that the Lord would take him home. We would place our son, just a few months old, in his namesake's listless arms and watch my dad's heaving chest signal his delight. Even then, it was always a bittersweet visit for my father, and for us.

The Gibraltar of the family, my mother, fussed over his bedside, nervously fluffing his pillows at fifteen-minute intervals, ensuring that the intravenous fluids were properly calculated, and organizing edifying visits from friends and children from church. In between, she read quietly in her chair while holding Dad's hand. For years, I had witnessed the remarkable care that these two people provided in our home, first to their own parents and then to fifteen elderly folks in our residential care home as I was growing up. But now she was caring for her best friend, and there was almost nothing she could do for him but fluff his pillows-and try to hide her own daily grief. Although my mom always looked ten years younger than her actual age, these months acted like time-lapse photography, working my father's pain into her own face and wearing her body down.

Then, just two months before my father's death, Mom suffered a massive stroke while I was driving her from her sister's funeral, where she had delivered a moving eulogy. This strong and compassionate woman who had given her life to disadvantaged city kids and abandoned seniors was now herself dependent on others.

I recalled a couple of times in the past when my parents had mentioned their worst fears about old age. For my dad, a debilitating disease would be the most horrible way of death, he said; for my mom, it was being a burden-and from their caregiving experience they knew both well. In my darker moments, I wondered why God would allow them to experience their worst scenarios in the last act of their play, especially when they had done so much for so many others. They had moved close to Lisa and me in our first year of marriage to be of help when they learned of our first pregnancy. Always running to the side of those who needed a strong arm, my mom was now partially paralyzed and disabled, while my dad was succumbing to an agonizing death.

I told God that it all seemed too calculated, that he seemed all too real, too involved, too present in our lives, especially my parents', as if he had cruelly dished out the very end that each most feared. Shouldn't people whose lives were all about giving to others, especially to the elderly, have a break when it comes to how they leave this life? It seemed to challenge the whole "reap what you sow" principle: does this apply only when people deserve bad and not when they deserve good?

My wife, recovering from several especially difficult miscarriages, found that her visits to my dad's bedside only aggravated her questions about God's goodness. It was strange to see her go through this. After all, Lisa was a Bible study teacher who devoured pretty deep theology books. Now it was all being put to the test of real life.

I had experienced death up close in our home growing up, not only with my grandparents but also with the adopted "grandparents" in our home for the elderly. Still, Lisa and I both struggled with the usual doubts. People suffer and even die from natural causes every day, we tried to tell ourselves. Furthermore, old people eventually die. We all die. This doesn't mitigate the tragedy, but its inevitability and universality at least prepare us for the fact.

But why do some people suffer so much in their death? Why is it often so slow and painful? Is death itself not horrible enough that we also have to fear dying-a wasting and withering that threatens our cherished expectations of a good and orderly providence? Just to look at my father over the course of those ghastly months, those long and torturous weeks, was to face the most serious, existential, concrete challenges to our deeply held Christian convictions."

Hope is found in Revelation, NOT Human Reason

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus loved Jesus and Jesus loved them. It is plainly spoken in the passage. When Jesus hears that Lazarus is deathly ill, Jesus stays two days where He is. He does not go to them. By the time Jesus shows up, Lazarus has been dead four days. What can those who know Him think? The one who can heal blindness and can work miracles... where is He? And how can He be good when He is silent in the darkest hour of need. Put yourself into Mary & Martha's shoes. Our prayers appear to fall on deaf ears.

What can human reason lead to?

1) We look at death and we think... there is no God. How can God let this be? That means He does not exist. There is only us and the natural way of things. Everything dies.

2) We think there's a God and we think God is powerless against death and destruction.

3) Or we think there's a God who is powerful, but He doesn't care. He isn't loving. God chose to let things happen to us. He cannot be good!

In the passage, Mary & Martha are not quite that far. But look at what they said. Martha said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." But it is a weak faith... because when Jesus asked them to open the tomb later, Martha said, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."

There's a very puzzling verse in the passage: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was." Jesus loved them, therefore He stayed where He was. He stayed where He was BECAUSE He loved them. This is not human logic. Anyone who hears that a dear family member is deathly ill would run to them, right away. But someone who reads the story would also realize that Jesus was four days away. Lazarus would still have been dead by the time Jesus arrived. But there was a tradition that said people who died might be resuscitated within four days. Jesus added some days to his trip back to this family so that Lazarus would be dead for four days by the time He came back. Beyond resuscitation. And THEN Jesus would raise him. And those who saw it would be dumbstruck. Someone who is totally dead, beyond the hope of any strange circumstances in those days. Jesus raised a person who was by any expectation dead and rotting.

For Mary & Martha, it is clear why Jesus waited instead of hurrying to their side. They had the privilege of knowing. But sometimes, we will not understand what happened. There will not be an explanation of horrible things. Mike Horton says in his book, "God has revealed everything we need to know but not everything we might like to know" Jesus died on the cross for us. It is God's love displayed for us to see.

Hope is knowing Jesus will remove the 'crushing-ness' of life

One of the things about life is that it doesn't turn out how we hope and expect. It's painfully obvious that things don't happen the way we think it should turn out. The man who cuts corners and is dishonest... makes money. But the Christian man can barely make ends meet. Sometimes we suffer because we follow Christ. People will hate us because we follow Him. Other times, we will suffer because of our own stupid decisions. But there's a third kind... the world is broken and we share in that. This world is not as it should be. Christians are not shielded from the brokenness of this world. But we live in the hope that life will not always be that way. We do not mean hope as in wishful thinking. For the christian, hope means we know for sure that it will happen. Jesus was troubled... He was angry. Jesus wept... He was saddened. Jesus already knows Lazarus will be raised. Why? Most commentators think that Jesus is angry and saddened by the brokenness of creation. The original goodness of creation is scarred and twisted. When Jesus raised Lazarus, it was a miracle. And when miracles show up in the bible, it is not for us to focus on the miracle, but rather the miracle is to teach us something. Lazarus' resurrection is telling us that Jesus wants to bring restoration to everything.

Hope is experienced by keeping Jesus central

When Jesus describes the sickness, death, and resurrection of Lazarus: "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." When glory is used here, it isn't glory given to God. Rather it is that God's glory will be revealed. When Lazarus came back, it was not just for the family and those close to the family... It was to show that Jesus IS the resurrection. People back then believed in resurrection. Everyone was talking about raising people from the dead. But Jesus did this miracle to show that HE is life. No matter what happens, Jesus is our life. In the darkest and most painful times of our lives, we still have hope in Him.