Sunday, November 21, 2010

Personal application of 1 Cor 15 and Resurrection

I Cor. 15 is saying that not only is there a literal. bodily resurrection in the future for the believer, but that a believer's resurrection is dependent on Christ's resurrection.  If we have  been united with him in his death, we shall also be united with him in his resurrection.  For Christ to rise and we not rise would violate the pattern of both our connection with the humanity of Christ, and our partaking of the divine nature. 


The resurrection of Christ, and the future resurrection of the believer have very practical implications for this life.  In verse 58 is the summation:  " 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."  Even when this involves vexing physical danger "What do I gain, humanly speaking, if I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, if the dead are not raised. 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'" (v. 32). 

Oh my my is the Word of God relevant!  The eating and drinking referred to here cannot be taken to mean necessary food, but a consumptive lifestyle that lives for selfish hedonism.  I guess then, that this would be a good test of spirituality; If I am incessantly thinking about what I am going to eat and drink, it indicates that I do not practically believe in the future resurrection "For tomorrow we die." 

But what hold does this food and drink have if I believe that the cross of Christ deals with all the justice the a sinner's sin ever demanded, and that he rose again, and loves with a supreme, forgiving love that does not count men's trespasses against them?  Then I look to him and ask him "What will you have me do?"  At that point, it seems silly as well as sinful to live with a flesh-feeding orientation, locked into a sort of spiritual autism that needs stimming to constantly feel happy.