1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 But someone will ask, how are the dead raised? 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,000 With what kind of body do they come? 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:13,000 O fool, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:20,766 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, Adam, so also shall we bear the image 5 00:00:20,766 --> 00:00:24,400 of the man of heaven, Jesus. 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,466 In his name, amen. 7 00:00:27,466 --> 00:00:36,600 Well, welcome to you all on this very last chapel service of the entire church year. 8 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:43,600 We've passed through those three main sections of the church calendar, each that tell us 9 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,400 a key part of our salvation story. 10 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:53,566 So if we could rewind the calendar just about a full year, we began with a time of Christmas, 11 00:00:53,566 --> 00:01:00,833 with Advent before, then Christmas, then Epiphany, then second we moved on to the time of Easter, 12 00:01:00,833 --> 00:01:07,366 Lent before, then Holy Week, Easter Sunday, then Ascension, then Pentecost, then Holy 13 00:01:07,366 --> 00:01:13,233 Trinity, and then third and finally we found ourselves in that really long green season 14 00:01:13,233 --> 00:01:18,766 that lasts about half of the entire year, the time of the church. 15 00:01:18,766 --> 00:01:25,066 So here we are at the very, very end, about to begin once again at the beginning, this 16 00:01:25,066 --> 00:01:31,300 coming Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent. 17 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:35,066 Why use a Christian calendar anyway? 18 00:01:35,066 --> 00:01:37,733 Is it just because we want another calendar? 19 00:01:37,733 --> 00:01:41,733 Since I began here at the seminary in early June, I've realized that we really love calendars 20 00:01:41,733 --> 00:01:44,033 here at the seminary. 21 00:01:44,033 --> 00:01:49,633 We've got the fiscal calendar, we've got the academic calendar, we've got the normal calendar, 22 00:01:49,633 --> 00:01:54,600 January to December, also technically called the Gregorian calendar. 23 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,333 Why not just add another calendar because we really like them? 24 00:01:58,333 --> 00:02:04,333 Well, the Christian calendar has been around for a long time, but in addition to just being 25 00:02:04,333 --> 00:02:10,766 very old, what better way to organize our days on this earth than around the events 26 00:02:10,766 --> 00:02:13,500 of Jesus? 27 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:20,466 The chaos all around us in the world that constantly threatens to cause despair, the 28 00:02:20,466 --> 00:02:27,333 chaos with Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russia, presidential races and divisive politics 29 00:02:27,333 --> 00:02:35,066 and economic inflation, so many different things threaten and tempt us to lose hope, 30 00:02:35,066 --> 00:02:40,133 but we as Christians, we organize our days around the thing that gives us hope, our Lord 31 00:02:40,133 --> 00:02:46,733 and Savior Jesus Christ and everything that he's done to redeem a very lost and very broken 32 00:02:46,733 --> 00:02:49,100 humanity. 33 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:55,600 Not with gold or silver or with bribes or bitcoin even, but with his holy precious blood 34 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,966 and his innocent suffering and death. 35 00:02:58,966 --> 00:03:03,433 We organize ourselves around that. 36 00:03:03,433 --> 00:03:07,733 So here we are at the very end and it seems sensible then that we would focus on the key 37 00:03:07,733 --> 00:03:17,933 event upon which our Christian hope is based, the resurrection of the dead, life everlasting. 38 00:03:17,933 --> 00:03:20,566 This body will resurrect from the dead. 39 00:03:20,566 --> 00:03:24,900 Your body sitting in these pews will resurrect from the dead. 40 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:29,766 And we know that, we say it often, but it's truly hard to imagine, isn't it? 41 00:03:29,766 --> 00:03:34,033 Because we've never seen anything like it before. 42 00:03:34,033 --> 00:03:38,566 In this very famous resurrection chapter that our reading comes from today, 1 Corinthians 43 00:03:38,566 --> 00:03:44,866 15, Paul reminds us that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, our preaching is 44 00:03:44,866 --> 00:03:51,666 in vain, this preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. 45 00:03:51,666 --> 00:03:55,866 And again, we hear that often, we know that it's true, but just think about the gravity 46 00:03:55,866 --> 00:03:58,500 of that statement for a moment. 47 00:03:58,500 --> 00:04:03,766 If Christ has not been raised from the dead, spending time learning Greek and Hebrew paradigms 48 00:04:03,766 --> 00:04:08,100 so you can better understand God's word, totally useless. 49 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:10,466 Your deaconess studies, a waste of time. 50 00:04:10,466 --> 00:04:13,366 Homiletics, learning to preach, what are you going to preach about? 51 00:04:13,366 --> 00:04:16,533 It's all a waste of time. 52 00:04:16,533 --> 00:04:19,966 There might be one thing that wouldn't be a waste of time here at the seminary and that 53 00:04:19,966 --> 00:04:24,933 of course would be, you guessed it, Prof 'n Stein. 54 00:04:24,933 --> 00:04:28,500 And the reason why is because St. Paul says, if the dead are not raised, let us eat and 55 00:04:28,500 --> 00:04:31,866 drink, for tomorrow we die. 56 00:04:31,866 --> 00:04:38,266 Why not just live the best life you can now with the best beer you can now because after 57 00:04:38,266 --> 00:04:43,066 this there's nothing left. 58 00:04:43,066 --> 00:04:47,133 Some would say that the historical claims of our Christian faith don't really matter 59 00:04:47,133 --> 00:04:50,600 that much because it's all about the internal belief. 60 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:57,500 If your internal state of things makes you a better person, if believing in a first century 61 00:04:57,500 --> 00:05:03,333 Jewish man from Nazareth who died and rose from the dead helps you to be a little bit 62 00:05:03,333 --> 00:05:10,233 of a better person, more forgiving, more loving, more hopeful, go for it. 63 00:05:10,233 --> 00:05:14,500 Believe whatever you want as long as it makes you be a better person, the best version of 64 00:05:14,500 --> 00:05:16,033 yourself. 65 00:05:16,033 --> 00:05:21,133 Many would say that and yet St. Paul reminds us today it's just the opposite. 66 00:05:21,133 --> 00:05:26,466 If Christ has not been raised from the dead, he says, you're still in your sins. 67 00:05:26,466 --> 00:05:32,666 And if we are still in our sins, then that means that the wage that you will pay for 68 00:05:32,666 --> 00:05:38,700 your sins, death, still has the last word. 69 00:05:38,700 --> 00:05:43,500 It means that that last enemy of death has not been swallowed up. 70 00:05:43,500 --> 00:05:47,800 And it means that the sting of death is still there. 71 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,666 It has the last word. 72 00:05:50,666 --> 00:05:56,666 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, even if it makes you just a better person, 73 00:05:56,666 --> 00:06:03,466 Paul says if we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 74 00:06:03,466 --> 00:06:10,266 And then comes the transition, but in fact, in fact, not hypothetically, not wishful thinking, 75 00:06:10,266 --> 00:06:16,033 not a possibility, but in fact, Christ has been risen from the dead, the first fruits 76 00:06:16,033 --> 00:06:20,233 of those who have fallen asleep. 77 00:06:20,233 --> 00:06:26,200 The first fruits, that thing that reminds us that there's so much more to come, just 78 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,433 like the first fruits out in the corn fields or the bean fields or the pear trees right 79 00:06:30,433 --> 00:06:32,766 up here on campus by the soccer fields. 80 00:06:32,766 --> 00:06:39,333 The first time you see those fruits, it reminds you there's a lot of good stuff to come. 81 00:06:39,333 --> 00:06:47,533 And so Jesus, the first fruits reminds us that this body, that body is going to be raised. 82 00:06:47,533 --> 00:06:52,066 This is just the beginning. 83 00:06:52,066 --> 00:06:59,566 But doesn't placing our hope in the future just disconnect us from the present? 84 00:06:59,566 --> 00:07:03,633 Some time ago I was talking to somebody, a critic of the Christian faith, and that's 85 00:07:03,633 --> 00:07:06,366 exactly what her argument was. 86 00:07:06,366 --> 00:07:11,166 You Christians, not only do you have this pie in the sky, she said, to lean on like 87 00:07:11,166 --> 00:07:15,233 a crutch, but it's even worse than just a crutch. 88 00:07:15,233 --> 00:07:21,700 It disconnects you from the very responsibilities you have in front of you. 89 00:07:21,700 --> 00:07:27,033 Now of course, in some sense, our Christian hope of a future life is a crutch to get through 90 00:07:27,033 --> 00:07:30,933 the difficulties of life, but everybody's got a crutch. 91 00:07:30,933 --> 00:07:34,000 Even denying God can certainly be a crutch. 92 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,666 So the question is, is the crutch strong enough to hold you? 93 00:07:36,666 --> 00:07:38,333 Is it true or not? 94 00:07:38,333 --> 00:07:40,333 That's the key question. 95 00:07:40,333 --> 00:07:45,133 But far from disconnecting us from the present, because our eyes are only fixed on the future, 96 00:07:45,133 --> 00:07:49,133 our future hope drives us deeper into the present. 97 00:07:49,133 --> 00:07:52,766 It's always been those people who have most hoped in the future who have done the most 98 00:07:52,766 --> 00:07:54,933 for the present moment. 99 00:07:54,933 --> 00:07:59,633 And the why of that is pretty obvious. 100 00:07:59,633 --> 00:08:06,266 If what we do now, what we say now, what we teach now, what we speak now, what we believe 101 00:08:06,266 --> 00:08:13,633 now has eternal consequences, it matters far more than it would if it just had consequences 102 00:08:13,633 --> 00:08:16,933 for 80 years, 90 years, 100 years. 103 00:08:16,933 --> 00:08:22,166 So having our hope rooted in the future drives us deeper into the present, far from disconnecting 104 00:08:22,166 --> 00:08:26,066 us from the present. 105 00:08:26,066 --> 00:08:32,966 Just as we today, St. Paul, certainly had to deal with mocking questions in his day, 106 00:08:32,966 --> 00:08:39,000 those skeptical and more rational advanced human minds that knew not to believe in silly 107 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,866 fairy tales like dead people raising from the dead. 108 00:08:43,866 --> 00:08:47,866 So Paul anticipates the question that he probably heard many times before. 109 00:08:47,866 --> 00:08:52,966 He says, someone's going to ask, how are the dead raised? 110 00:08:52,966 --> 00:08:56,266 With what kind of body will they come? 111 00:08:56,266 --> 00:08:58,533 Paul's not impressed. 112 00:08:58,533 --> 00:09:05,133 He first responds with that brief Greek word, afron, you fool. 113 00:09:05,133 --> 00:09:09,966 And then Paul goes on to explain how these skeptics of the faith, they defeat their own 114 00:09:09,966 --> 00:09:12,866 assumptions every time they look around. 115 00:09:12,866 --> 00:09:15,633 Paul says, just look around you. 116 00:09:15,633 --> 00:09:21,866 Every little seed that we plant in the ground, it can't burst into its full potential unless 117 00:09:21,866 --> 00:09:24,433 it dies. 118 00:09:24,433 --> 00:09:28,533 Think about the big oak trees we have here on campus, all of the glory and majesty of 119 00:09:28,533 --> 00:09:30,733 these beautiful trees. 120 00:09:30,733 --> 00:09:33,766 The saddest thing was when I walked down the stairs to the small chapel a couple of days 121 00:09:33,766 --> 00:09:36,600 ago and saw that the really big one was cut down. 122 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,200 It happens. 123 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:44,300 Each one of those glorious trees began as a humble little seed that had to be pushed 124 00:09:44,300 --> 00:09:55,533 down into the dark, cool soil, kind of like a tomb, in order for it to germinate and burst 125 00:09:55,533 --> 00:09:59,100 through the surface and grow to its full potential. 126 00:09:59,100 --> 00:10:06,466 Saint Paul says, you fool, why imagine that something can't lose its current humble form 127 00:10:06,466 --> 00:10:08,900 and have something glorious in the future? 128 00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:14,233 Every time you sow a seed, you contradict your own argument. 129 00:10:14,233 --> 00:10:17,900 Now Paul calls this a foolish question, of course, because it wasn't coming from a place 130 00:10:17,900 --> 00:10:20,433 of faith. 131 00:10:20,433 --> 00:10:23,933 It was coming as a mock, as a skeptical question. 132 00:10:23,933 --> 00:10:29,133 But even we as Christians who believe Jesus and his promises, we ask that sometimes with 133 00:10:29,133 --> 00:10:32,766 what kind of body will we be raised with? 134 00:10:32,766 --> 00:10:36,366 What will the glorified version of you look like? 135 00:10:36,366 --> 00:10:38,566 Or me? 136 00:10:38,566 --> 00:10:41,166 Even little kids think about this. 137 00:10:41,166 --> 00:10:47,266 I recently came from my first call to the parish out in Nebraska and I had a little 138 00:10:47,266 --> 00:10:50,000 young nine-year-old boy from Mexico. 139 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,633 I was doing Hispanic church planting out there in northeast Nebraska and Leo was his name. 140 00:10:55,633 --> 00:11:00,966 Leo nine years old after we had talked about the mystery of this resurrection of the body 141 00:11:00,966 --> 00:11:05,933 and life everlasting, he came to me the next week and he said, Pastor, I don't think that 142 00:11:05,933 --> 00:11:09,866 I want to be resurrected from the dead and go to heaven. 143 00:11:09,866 --> 00:11:13,933 And of course I'm thinking, didn't expect that. 144 00:11:13,933 --> 00:11:14,933 Why not, Leo? 145 00:11:14,933 --> 00:11:20,866 And he gets quiet for a second, kind of avoids eye contact and he looks and he says, well, 146 00:11:20,866 --> 00:11:24,866 you said that people are going to, we're going to go back to the paradise of Eden and Adam 147 00:11:24,866 --> 00:11:28,633 and Eve didn't have clothes on. 148 00:11:28,633 --> 00:11:32,533 He was worried about being naked for eternity. 149 00:11:32,533 --> 00:11:36,033 Even kids think about this question and we as adults, we do too. 150 00:11:36,033 --> 00:11:39,766 With what kind of body will we be raised? 151 00:11:39,766 --> 00:11:44,133 Will this be my one opportunity to get rid of all those physical attributes that I'm 152 00:11:44,133 --> 00:11:46,266 insecure about? 153 00:11:46,266 --> 00:11:52,233 Will you have less hair here or more there or less curves here or more there or will 154 00:11:52,233 --> 00:11:59,800 this very Norwegian complexion finally get that Latino bronze that I've always wanted? 155 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,433 The truth is we just don't know. 156 00:12:02,433 --> 00:12:08,300 And apparently God has not deemed it important to give us those details. 157 00:12:08,300 --> 00:12:15,733 But perhaps the best thing about our glorified selves will be that for the first time we 158 00:12:15,733 --> 00:12:20,466 won't be concerned about ourselves. 159 00:12:20,466 --> 00:12:29,133 That in curvatus in se, that inward tournedness of sin will finally be directed outward toward 160 00:12:29,133 --> 00:12:35,066 God and our neighbor, just as we were meant to be. 161 00:12:35,066 --> 00:12:38,933 When undone. 162 00:12:38,933 --> 00:12:41,100 So how are the dead raised? 163 00:12:41,100 --> 00:12:44,566 With what kind of body will they be raised? 164 00:12:44,566 --> 00:12:47,666 We don't know the details but one thing is for certain dear brothers and sisters and 165 00:12:47,666 --> 00:12:50,066 it's this. 166 00:12:50,066 --> 00:12:54,633 What we sow doesn't come to life unless it dies. 167 00:12:54,633 --> 00:13:00,266 So it is with the resurrection of the dead, what is sown perishable will be raised imperishable. 168 00:13:00,266 --> 00:13:03,466 What is sown in dishonor is raised in glory. 169 00:13:03,466 --> 00:13:10,100 What is sown in weakness will be raised in immense eternal power. 170 00:13:10,100 --> 00:13:16,666 Just as we have borne the image of the man of the dust, Adam, so also will you and will 171 00:13:16,666 --> 00:13:22,800 I bear the image of the man of heaven, Jesus Christ. 172 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,033 And that is really good news. 173 00:13:26,033 --> 00:13:34,400 In Jesus' name, amen.