Risen with Christ

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Focus: Easter Resurrection

Function: Celebration

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

We are Risen with Christ.

And in that, we are in Union with Christ.

Our union with Christ is a life giving force that is still changing the world for the good.

I read a caption to an article on my Facebook feed that I did not have a time to read, but the title intrigued me.

The title, from a minister acquaintance of mine said: “why I don't believe in the resurrection.”

I respect the person who posted it and who knows what it actually said? I understand that some Christians have a different understanding of resurrection than I do, or than what brother Paul seems to be talking about in this passage and I want you to know that I respect this. But I confess, I still believe in the resurrection. It fits for me.

When this passage speaks of how we are to be pitied if Christ Jesus didn't raise from the dead with the implication that all we get is some sort of good moral code to live by while alive on earth, this passage may have been misused to imply that all that matters is that in the end we get to heaven.

There is language in here that is also used in end times prophecy teaching.

And the language is highly symbolic. I spent a lot of time trying to work out when this “risen with Christ” is or will be and since its symbolic language is different than other passages, I am convinced that the focus of this passage is not the events at the end, but the very important concept that through the resurrection, death, and the fear of death is conquered.

This is Easter worship in its classic form. Christ Jesus is Alive and Christ Jesus will indeed bring victory over all the evil that plagues mankind and in the end will conquer all that which opposes the good that God represents.

Easter, Resurrection, the proof of our hope.

The promise is “First Christ will be raised.” That part has happened; and then those in union with Jesus will be raised

Now, that could be a future event, it could be speaking of those whose bodies have died and souls have gone on, or it could be a reference to the fact that no one will be raised until the end.

Because the symbolic language changes, we cannot be definitive on what this means about the end times.

And that is important, because what he is talking about is the power of the resurrection.

But what about those “not in union?” Although not specifically mentioned when, it is implied that they will also be raised because the passage says “everyone will be raised.”

Who is raised “To death or life” is up to God and the minute that I start deciding which it is based on my beliefs and experiences, that is the minute I limit the life giving resurrection that this passage celebrates.

Somehow, in my darkness, God broke through to me. God can do the same for others.

The passage is not about who is in and out, but about the victory the Resurrection won.

Even evil Spiritual rulers, Spiritual authorities, and Spiritual powers will also be brought back to God.

Somehow, through this death and resurrection, this is now all possible.

Resurrection follows death.

The ancients understood death differently than us. The Greek word for death is Thanatos. It means separation. When we die, we are cut off from the living.

To me, to be separated from God and love would be hell.

Death is to be permanently and eternally cut off from God, or from our community.

I don't want to focus on those who are not in union because the passage does not.

I am cautious about the use of Kingdom in reference to God's Kingdom and the judgment in proximity to one another.

I believe that a false understanding of hell has been perpetrated for to many years and it leaves people with a fear, or the fear, of death.

In the resurrection of Christ, we see the eventual defeat of death.

And He is first, as an example of the hope that everyone else has.

But I am cautious about the use of the place that could be alluded to in this passage as “not heaven.” I am cautious because the Kingdom of God does not consist of the saved who are in union with Christ as opposed to those who are not there yet.

John tells us that the fear of death is the fear of judgment. But Jesus took the judgment on the cross. More than that, if there was to be wrath from God against the evils that humanity have committed because of greed and most often that greed is fueled to some sort of justifiable homicide because it married with some sort of religious excuse to hate others.

No. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom without fear. That is what the bible says. It exists because the fear of wrath has been taken upon Jesus Christ on the cross.

By Adam death came to all, by Jesus, eternal life comes to all.

That is the focus of this passage.

So, when he ignores those not in union with Christ at the end, again, we ask ourselves, what does that mean?

I can tell you that Jesus' purpose is to save and restore the entire world to God.

And even though these powers, rulers and authorities are spiritual in nature, He will not stop until He brings the world entire back to Him.

I love the words “In Union with Christ.”

In Ephesians 2:6 we read that we are also already raised with Jesus Christ.

We are already part of the new Kingdom.

Our lives belong to God and we can rest in the fact that God knows how to love and protect both our lives the lives of those we love.

We are in Union with Christ.

It is a life giving force.

The union with Christ is a life giving force.

It gives life both to us and to those around us.

It brings life in the midst of misery and despair.

We bring life to others.

And we can see the evidence of it in our lives.

The beauty of our faith is the partnership with God and others that we now get to have.

I read this phrase, “if your religion requires you to hate, then the problem is your religion.”

Even if there was no resurrection, unless humanity learns to solve its problems with love instead of violence, humanity cannot survive.

But there is a promise here.

Death is disarmed. Fear of death is defeated. And every other force of evil will also be brought to submission.

We are blessed with the life giving force that changed the story of violent retribution, submitted to the cross and then disarmed violence by raising from the dead.

We are blessed with the life giving force that raised Jesus from the dead and deliver us alive in faith to the one in whom we have entrusted our salvation.

Join us.