FHCC
20241215 Worship
              • Emmanuel, God With Us

                                    • 1 Corinthians 15:54–57ESV

                                • The first 2 weeks of this season we looked at how God’s glory is revealed as an exchange from oppression to provision. Then last week we considered how God’s glory within each human should overcome darkness by shining with intensity and direction. This week we contemplate how the life, death and resurrection of Christ absolutely reverse our inevitable penalty as the result of our current egotism.
                                  I invite you to listen to the Word of the Lord, then meditate on those lyrics as set to music by George Handel in the Messiah.

                                  When is a victory, not a victory?

                                  Have you heard of situations where academic or recruiting regulations forced a team to vacate a victory? How many times have “victories” been reversed by recounts, dangling chad, or undiscovered tubs of ballots? Have we not all seen examples of students storming a field or court toward the end of a game that has not reached 0:00?
                                  Does the victory described in these verses remain even if your preferred candidate is not in the governor’s mansion? Does this victory exist when unjust laws are passed or judges hand down poor decisions?
                                  Is God giving victory through our Lord Jesus Christ even when inflation is out of control, when immigration is unrestrained, or when true hate is permitted to flourish without guardrails?
                                  I’ve been re-reading a book that I’ve owned for 3 decades along with my pastor’s accountability group in Wichita. [show Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome book] because we (pastors and lay people) frequently begin to believe lies and act as if things that are actually defeats are viewed as successes.
                                  The whole context of 1 Cor 15 is focused upon resurrection and life beyond your 80ish years on this earth.
                                  Humanity’s biggest problem is not inflation or immigration. Our biggest problem started some 10,000 years ago when a woman was told “You can disobey God and still be a winner. The lie went on to propose that if you disobey God you will be a bigger winner than you are right now.”
                                  Humanity’s biggest challenge is a simple 3-letter word with “I” in the middle. It is the untruth that I can determine for myself better than God can determine for me.
                                  Ever since that woman and her husband made the wrong choice, each of us has been born into a reality where sin (rebellion against God) is a painful daily struggle that ultimately results in death. In today’s text, the Apostle looks back to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ that reverses that final destination (death) and the sting of sin that leads us down that path.
                                  ​
                                  TRANSITION: The victory God gives is not describing physical health, material wealth, or experiential happiness. It does not describe accumulated power over people. The Victory in our Lord Jesus Christ is TRIUMPH over death and TRANSFORMING power over sin and temptation.

                                  Final Triumph (1 Cor 15:54-55a)

                                  In about 30 minutes 106 men will meet on a football field in Cleveland. I have already set my DVR to record the game that I will watch after our soup luncheon following this service. I have already turned off all the notification in my social media and I am declaring a moratorium on football scores on this property until 6:00 tonight when I will learn the outcome.
                                  While I prefer NOT to know the final outcome in a sports contest, I absolutely want to know the final outcome of my life on earth. Your eternity with or apart from God is too important to leave to chance.

                                  An Outcome too Important to leave to chance.

                                  Every single one of us, every single person you have ever known has been born into a death-existence; a span on earth that results in a separation of your soul from your body. Since the universal, normative, and default result of that death existence concludes with separation and a soul that deserves punishment, if there is any hope for an upset, I would like to know about it.
                                  But God takes Triumph one step beyond hope. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, an upset is possible! And because our Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished all that is necessary for that triumph, it is not only possible, it is a GUARANTEE!
                                  Paul alludes to a prophecy back in Isaiah’s scroll (Isaiah 25:8) that suggested death could be swallowed. But it had not happened yet so it was only a hope. Paul also knew that Hosea 13:14 had proposed that the swallowing of death would reverse the sting of all that leads to it.
                                  The Old Testament prophecies do not contain the word victory as Paul’s description does, because it remained a hope and a promise. There are occurrences in a couple of Old Testament counts where a person was taken up without tasting death. And there were miraculous events where people were resuscitated back from the dead temporarily, but each one of these persons eventually returned to death.
                                  However, Jesus, (the same Jesus who we celebrate his arrival in Bethlehem) changed the hope, the prophecy, and the promise of death’s permanent defeat into a guaranteed victory of resurrection.

                                  Paul turns this victory into a taunt. (v.55)

                                  For thousands of years Satan had been using his “victorious deception” over Eve to instill fear and intimidation into humanity. Fear of pain and death (that did not exist in humanity before the Fall) had been the taunt of the Evil One that “you will never be good enough” or “I will get the last laugh” or “You might as well give in because nobody has ever escaped my inevitable victory.”
                                  He even tried it with Jesus! In Matthew 4 he tries 3 times to get Jesus to surrender to Satan’s lies. But since Jesus was not born with the sin deficit that each of us receive in utero, due to a miraculous conception, Jesus was able to resist the lie and hold to the hope, prophecy and promise of His Father.
                                  Maybe Paul is demonstrating a little “poor sportsmanship” by stating this taunt so clearly, but after 6,000-8,000 years, I’m not going to fault him for speaking a truth that the enemy doesn’t want to hear.
                                  Gordon Fee is an Assembly of God theologian who is widely considered an expert on the book of 1 Corinthians. He writes in New International Commentary on the New Testament
                                  The First Epistle to the Corinthians 2014 (4. The Assurance of Triumph (15:50–58))
                                  This taunt is Paul’s way of looking forward to the triumph of the ages. Death’s victory has been overcome by Christ’s victory; and death’s deadly sting has been detoxicated—indeed, the stinger itself has been plucked—through Christ’s resurrection. Death, therefore, is powerless.
                                  TRANSITION: Paul then goes on to say if the final outcome is triumph, then right now we can participate in...

                                  Present Transformation

                                  If death loses its inevitability, then it loses its sting. and if death loses its sting, then so does all that leads up to it--sin and its power.
                                  I know I’ve spoken about slaves who were emancipated, but never told of their freedom.
                                  In my first church there were several families who were 2nd generation German immigrants from Russia who homesteaded during the Oklahoma land rush of 1889. For nearly 100 years their whole existence had been meager living as they attempted to turn wheat and cattle into enough resources to survive. In the late 1970’s oil and gas were discovered under many of their farms and several became millionaires seemingly overnight, but it didn’t change their homes, their clothes, their lifestyle, or their cars
                                  It was said that these first-generation millionaires lived poor and died rich according to the values of the world, but unfortunately, many of their children were born rich and died poor.
                                  Somewhere between those two options of worldly wealth, we can find a proper attitude toward spiritual wealth.
                                  We do not live as spiritual paupers who are determined to fail each temptation as if we are bound by sin. We live as victors over sin’s challenges each time we remember the victory earned by Christ’s extraordinary price. We neither go on sinning that grace may abound, nor do we go on sinning because we have no other option. We choose to say “no” to temptation and “yes” to godly obedience and every time we say “yes” to obedience, v.57 is proven to be true.

                                  Victory Today

                                  Victory is not dying with most toys. Victory is not enough money to control others. Victory is not power to do as one wishes. Victory is the Triumph that death does not have the last word and the Transformation that Sin is not inevitable, it can be defeated!
                                  As our Elders met earlier, they offered me some suggestions to make my preaching better. Most of their ideas were around the idea of Application of the truth. I listened to an expert on preaching say that Explanation helps us to understand the life God desires and that Application responds to the gap between the life God intends and the life we experience.
                                  Psalm 119 says that the Word serves to illuminate the path so we know what direction to head, and shines on the path so that we can take the next step to close the gap described by Dr. Doriani.
                                  How do we narrow the gap between the Victory that God intends, and the defeat we experience?
                                  Light to my path
                                  The Victory in our Lord Jesus Christ is TRIUMPH over death and TRANSFORMING power over sin and temptation.
                                  We narrow the gap by taking these steps
                                  Lamp for my Steps
                                  · Reject the lie – Any obstacles to God’s perfect will for you are limited and temporary.
                                  Satan wants you to believe that your defeat is inevitable, but Jesus has already done everything possible so that God is giving the victory!
                                  · Renew your mind – You must exchange old thinking for present and future perspective.
                                  Each time you face temptation, you must choose to turn away. Remind yourself that God’s reward is always better than anything that temptation offers.
                                  This exchange must happen after the temptation has presented itself, but there is something you can do proactively, so that your reflex when tempted becomes one that leads to victory.
                                  · Review the truth – If you read this verse 3x each day (rise, lunch, bed) for 1 week, by Christmas you will have an edge on your sword that can slay any opposition or doubt.

                                  Conclusion:

                                  As we conclude this service there are 2 things you can do for me.
                                  If you are not 100% sure that the death you face due to your sin will end in the Victory won by Christ, please express that to me or one of our Elders before you leave this building.
                                  The second thing you can do for me is to tell one another that we have a Lord who is giving victory to all who trust in Him and is coming back to reign over every human heart.
                                  Our children are going to join me across the front of this room, and we are asking if you are able to help us make one large circle and sing to one another about the Victory and Joy given to us.
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