Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY February 21^st

1 Corinthians 15:42

‘So is it with the resurrection of the dead.’

Remember Paul was answering the questions that he presupposed would be asked considering the resurrection, ‘How are the dead raised?’ With what kind of body do they come?’ I suppose I would answer this second question this way, ‘The same but different!’ But why?

Well if we look back at the resurrection of Jesus, it was a bodily resurrection, it was the dead body that was taken down off the cross and buried in the tomb that was raised, he was identifiable, he was able to show his scars in his hands and feet and the mark from the spear in his side, and yet it was different, for he no longer had to turn the door handle to open a door to enter a room, he could just appear! John tells us that as the disciples were in a locked room, for fear of the Jews, Jesus suddenly stood among them!

Paul says regarding our bodies that they will be sown as perishable; but raised as imperishable. See the decaying process crept into our bodies as soon as we were born, and the process increases the older we get until we finally die, that is the result of sin, but because of what Christ accomplished at Calvary the power of the resurrection is such that because the sting of death which is sin has been dealt with, we will be raised to the power of an endless life, no longer perishable but imperishable, after the resurrection, death nor decay will have any hold upon us!

So don’t worry about the wrinkles! One day we will all be wrinkle free, why spend vast amounts of money on all the beauty products and treatments that are peddled to suggest we can look better for longer when Jesus has provided something far better for us and it is free! Life everlasting and imperishable!

The second point Paul makes is that we are sown in dishonour, and we will be raised in glory. This is what Paul had written to the Philippian Church in 3:20-21 ‘But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.’

The body that will be buried will have been ravaged and restricted because of sin, but it will be raised in glory, untainted, never to be limited in any way.

The third point is that the body will be sown because of weakness, but it will be raised in power! Wow, it is all good news, imagine never feeling weak, tired, or lethargic again, never succumbing to the weaknesses of the flesh and the temptation of sin again, that will all be gone, and we will have been raised in power.

We will look at the fourth point in the next devotion.

TUESDAY February 20^th

1 Corinthians 15:35

‘But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”’

When I worked in the motor trade as a painter and refinisher, I also did accident recovery, going either to the scene of an accident to recover the vehicles or to fetch and deliver cars that needed repairing or had been repaired. Often it took up my evenings, and if I was going on a lengthy journey, maybe up to two or three hours away, I would ring home and arrange to pick up one of our three sons who loved to come in the lorry with me. But there was a problem, I suppose I would say a good problem, but it could get a little wearing, he loved to talk and ask question after question after question! And I would have to try to answer them. (We used to have to play at being at church as well—we would sing songs and I would have to preach and often a testimony given!)

Well in our verses today Paul is presupposing that someone would now ask a question and they would want it answered. So, he gives the questions and then over the remaining verses he gives the answers.

What is the first question—‘How are the dead raised?’ Well, I am glad I don’t have to answer it, Paul has done that for us, but it is a good question, and he uses logic in verses 36-41 describing what happens in the natural, and then explains it regarding the spiritual, the resurrection in verses 42-49.

Those of us who are regular gardeners always marvel (well I do) at the way that we can place what looks to all intents and purposes a shrivelled up, dead, seemingly useless seed into the soil and then a few days or weeks later, it pushes some shoots up through the ground and eventually becomes a flower or vegetable with a body of its own.

How often have we gone to a funeral and watched the coffin lowered into the ground, and you recall the individual, they may have been elderly or old, they had wrinkled and were perhaps a shadow of what they had been in their younger years and yet the miracle of the resurrection is that the same God who gives life to the seed that I have planted in the soil will also give life to the believer who has been planted into the ground, and what an amazing body it will be on that resurrection day, no longer the old perishable body, but one that will be imperishable. We don’t have to understand it all, remember Paul calls it a mystery, but what is important is that we believe it! Remember that after Jesus had told Martha that he was the resurrection and the life and that all who believed in him would be raised, he said to her ‘Do you believe this?’  Do you?

Romans 8:11 puts it this way, ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’

MONDAY February 19^th

1 Corinthians 15:32–34

‘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.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.’

My few days looking at 1 Corinthians 15 have now taken us into a third week, but hey, it is my favourite chapter, so I’m enjoying myself!

In our verses today Paul makes a quick reference back to the subject of ‘if the dead are not raised’ suggesting that if that is the case, he has fought with beasts for no reason! And he could have made this a much longer chapter by adding everything else that he had suffered for the gospel. ‘Why would I have done all these things if the dead are not raised’.

But he has a reason for mentioning it again, for he uses it to call the Corinthian believers to get serious, to wake up, he wants to give them a good shaking, he would say to them, ‘the dead will be raised, therefore stop messing about and get serious about the things of God. It is eternity that matters not your getting involved with trivial and temporal matters.’

He says, ‘If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.’ In other words ‘if the dead are not raised, do whatever you like’, but the fact that the dead are raised, means that we do not spend our time eating and drinking, we do not spend our time doing whatever we like, for even though we will die, because there will also be a resurrection, we will have to face the judgement seat of Christ.

He obviously has heard or maybe even witnessed among the Corinthian believers those who were half-hearted in their faith, those who were trying to live in the world, possibly involved in immoral behaviour (he tackles this throughout his letters to Corinth) while trying to identify with the Church and Paul says this should not be so, ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’.

Wake up he says, do not go on sinning. In his letter to Ephesus, Paul says to them ‘Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is’ (5:15-17)

May we stay awake and be alert to the tactics of the devil who would love to detract us and to divert us from the things that really matter, our walk with God, our being instructed from his word and of our being in regular prayer and fellowship with other believers.

We need to ensure that we stay away from corrupt company and spend time with those who walk the same road that we are walking, the road that yes, is narrow, but at least it leads to life everlasting.

‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night’ Psalm 1:1-2.

FRIDAY February 16^th

1 Corinthians 15:24–28

‘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.’

How often have we heard those who push the climate change agenda predict how much time is left for this world if we keep going on as we are. At this moment when I am preparing this devotion it is at least minus 5 degrees, and feels even colder, so global warming hasn’t reach Stanley yet! I am not saying we shouldn’t be concerned about the pollution etc, but I want to reassure us that the end of the world is not in the hands of the climate change activists, it is in the hands of the One who created it!

The verses today tell us that the end will come when God has decreed it will be, which will be at the time when he will wrap up his programme for this world, which has been and is being and will continue to be outworked through his incredible plan of redemption.

The end will be when Christ has destroyed every rule, authority and power, that is once Christ has put all his enemies under his feet with the last enemy being that of death. When will that be? Well in Revelation 20 we read that it will be at the same time when all whose names are not found in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire, so also Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire, this is the moment when death, the last enemy will be destroyed, and then it continues in Revelation 21 to say that John ‘saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.’

The activists can throw as much orange paint as they want to, they will not change a single thing, God is control. He created all things; he sustains all things, and he has determined when the end of all things will be. Rather then being activists for climate change, it would be far better taking the time to make sure that one is ready, not so much for this life, but rather eternity, the need is urgent to be right and ready for the life that is to come, by placing faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some other verses that help us understand that God is in control are found in 2 Peter 3, verse 5 tells us that by the word of God the earth was formed and in verse 7 that it is by the same word, that is the word of God the heavens and the earth are being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly.

THURSDAY February 15^th

1 Corinthians 15:23

‘But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.’

Here, Paul lets us know about the resurrection order, we know when the resurrection of Jesus as the firstfruit took place, it was on the third day after his death and his burial, and then it will be the resurrection of those who have come to faith in Christ and have died, this will take place at the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Although Paul introduces this for us here, he spends the best part of the rest of this chapter explaining what this resurrection of the believers will be like.

But what about the believers who are alive when Jesus comes again? Well, Paul covers this for us in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica, chapter 4:14-17, where he says this ‘For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.’

At the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the dead in Christ are raised, the living believers will be raptured and together we will be changed. Paul says this later in 1 Corinthians 15 ‘Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.’ (v51). We will look at what takes place in this momentous moment as we continue going through this chapter.

But what about those who have died as unbelievers? Scripture tells us that they too will be raised at a later time, at the end of the millennial reign of Christ upon the earth, but whereas believers will have been raised to enter into eternal life, unbelievers will be raised to face the judgment at the great white throne and the outcome will be the same for each one of them, they will be cast into the lake of fire, the place that has been reserved for the devil and all his angels, forever separated from the presence of God. (See Revelation 20:7-15)

So for us who are believers, that is those who are ‘in Christ’, the resurrection or the rapture is going to lead to something that is exceptional, and exciting, and eternity, which is out of this world, it will be to be found in the eternal presence of God, but, for unbelievers the news is terrifying, troubling and should cause any who read this devotion that has not yet come to faith to seek to put their lives right with God while there is still time.

There’s going to be a meeting in the air,

In the sweet, sweet by and by,

I’m going to meet you, meet you over there, (That is if you have come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ)

In the home beyond the sky,

Such music there will be never heard by human ear,

‘Twill be glorious I do declare,

For God’s own Son, will be the leading one,

In the meeting in the air!

WEDNESDAY February 14^th

1 Corinthians 15:20–23

‘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.’

Before we get into the text today, let’s remind ourselves as to why Jesus came into this world, yes, it is as I have been emphasising on a Sunday evening from 1 Timothy 1:15, to save sinners, but what was it that motivated Jesus for want of a better word, to come in this world to save sinners? It was the love that the triune God had for mankind. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16)

It was because of the love of God for fallen humanity that Jesus was willing to come into this world, to live, then to die, to be buried and to rise again, and on this Valentines Day in which the world goes crazy celebrating love, how much more wonderful would it be to celebrate the incredible love of God toward each one of us. Loving us even though we were utterly depraved because of our sinfulness and wretchedness, loving us despite us never having loved him. Loving us enough to step out of the glory of heaven into this sin sick, dark and evil world, loving us enough to bear our sins and our sorrows and to suffer alone at Calvary, loving us enough that he waits to welcome each sinner that repents into his family and because of the resurrection, into his eternal presence.

Our text confirms for us that Christ was the firstfruit of the resurrection, a firstfruit indicating that more fruit would follow, that is because Jesus was raised, all those who have placed their hope in him will one day also be raised, remember the words that Jesus spoke to Martha on the occasion of the death of her brother Lazurus, ‘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’ John 11:25-26.

Yes, because of Adam we will all die, but we do not all need to die in our sin, for Christ has dealt with the sting of death, which is sin, therefore because of Christ we (that is all who believe) will all be made alive again.

TUESDAY February 13^th

 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

‘Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 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.’

Now, just as we all have a birthday, (it happens to be mine today) should the Lord Jesus tarry, we will all one day have a death day!  We cannot escape it, because death is the consequence of Adams sin, which has been passed onto all who are born, for we are all born in sin and shaped in iniquity.

We celebrate our birthday, but I guess we don’t even want to think about what will be our death day, nor even when it will be, but the good news of this gospel that Paul is writing about here in these verses is that the sting of death has been dealt with—or as it? See, in the verses for today, Paul is referring to those who say that there is no resurrection of the dead, and he then continues to list all the negative outcomes if this were to be so.

1. Christ has not been raised—he couldn’t be if there was no such thing as resurrection from dead.
2. All of Paul’s preaching, the other apostles preaching and those who have since then preached the gospel will have been in vain.
3. For all who have believed what was preached, then their faith has all been in vain and we are still in our sin.
4. We will also have been liars if we have preached about something that has not happened.
5. Those who have already had their death day will have perished.
6. We who at this moment are still living will also one day die and perish.
7. Because we have believed we are to be pitied, how stupid of you to believe such nonsense.

Wouldn’t it be a terrible thing if those who say there is no resurrection were right! And what if all these points I have highlighted were right! But thank God they are not right, therefore for those of us who have believed we are not to be pitied, we are not stupid, we are not still in our sins, our faith has not been in vain, all the preaching has not been pointless, and we do not need to fear our death day because it will not be the end, the sting of death has been dealt with, it will be the moment when should Jesus tarry that we will leave this world and enter into that which is already being prepared for us in the presence of God.

And Paul after listing all these things, gives a message to all the doomsayers who deny the resurrection of the dead by continuing with verse 20 ‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ We will take this up in our next devotion, for today, rejoice in the wonderful truth that Jesus is alive, and because of his resurrection we who have come to believe in him, will also share in his resurrection life.

MONDAY February 12^th

1 Corinthians 15:10–11

‘But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.’

I love this first sentence in these two verses, Paul acknowledges that he is what and who he is, not because of anything he had done or by anything he had achieved but solely based upon the grace of God. He then gives honour to the grace of God by recognising the grace that God had shown toward him and showered upon him had not been in vain. He had begun the race on the Damascus Road, he had continued in the race, which had taken him to the Jew, to the Gentiles and to Kings and he knew that the same grace would enable him to arrive home, that is to his eternal destination.

The grace of God had enabled him to fight the good fight of the faith, to defend that which he himself had previously sought to destroy and to preach the gospel whatever the cost so that others would believe.

He acknowledges that the grace of God was with him, without it, he would never have succeeded, without it he would never have managed to get out of the starting blocks, the grace of God, so undeserved yet at the same time so necessary.

May we also recognise the work of the grace of God in our own lives, and ensure that we do not get caught up, or entangled in anything that would cause the grace of God to be in vain. This world is full of so many things and sadly people who if we allow them to, would distract us and pull us away from God, things that could so easily cause us in the context of the verses I mentioned in the previous devotion to take our eyes off Jesus who is the author and the perfector of our faith, things that will cause us to focus on other things that in the long term do not really matter.

In the words of a verse from Matthew which has already been quoted a few times this year from the preaching in Emmanuel, ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you’ (6:33).

One of those things that will be added to our lives as we seek first the kingdom of God is his grace and favour.

Your grace still amazes me,

Your love is still a mystery.

Each day I fall on my knees,

‘Cause your grace still amazes me.

Your grace still amazes me.

FRIDAY February 9^th

1 Corinthians 15:8-11

‘Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.’

As we continue with this theme of that ‘which is of first importance’, Paul then relates back to the moment when he encountered Jesus for himself on the road to Damascus, he says ‘Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me’.

When it comes to the resurrection of Jesus, Paul knows what he is talking about, not just because he will have heard the apostles giving witness to it, but primarily, firstly, because he himself had met with the risen Jesus!

And what a meeting it was, as we have already covered as I started this series, he was one who hated Jesus and hated all who followed Jesus, seeking to destroy the spread of the gospel and all who had responded to it, but God had a plan for him, and it was going to lead to an interruption in his scheduled journey that would cause his eyes to be temporarily stopped, but spontaneously opened again as Ananias prayed for him.

To me this speaks of what happened to his spiritual eyes, his seeing Jesus was like a cataract being removed, what he couldn’t see or understand beforehand now became very clear. The Man who hung on the Cross, really did bear his sin, really did die for his sin and was buried and rose on the third day, and he himself had seen him, encountered him and now as it seemed before as if nothing would stop him destroying all who followed in the way, this encounter now meant that nothing was now going to stop him speaking about Jesus, preaching the gospel, calling men and women to follow in the Way.

And he reminds the Corinthian believers that this was the gospel he had preached to them, the gospel in which they stood and by which they were being saved—but then he added these words (v2) ‘if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain’.

Let us all ensure that we have not believed in vain, but that we are holding fast to all that this gospel has done for us and means for us as we too are being saved. May nothing hinder or distract us, but may we be so captivated by the wonder and reality of the gospel, in all that it means to us and has done and continues to do for us that we ‘lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’, Hebrews 12:1-2.

THURSDAY February 8^th

1 Corinthians 15:1-5

‘Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.’

As I have been preparing the devotions for this week, the words of a song have kept coming to mind.

In the grave God did not leave Him

For His body to decay

Raised to life – the Great Awakening

Satan’s pow’r He overcame

 

If there were no resurrection

We ourselves could not be raised

But the Son of God is living

So our hope is not in vain

 

The third part of this ‘which is of first importance’ theme is that ‘he was raised on the third day’. The resurrection, both the truth of it and the wonder of it are so essential to our Christian faith.

 

Why? Well Paul says later that if Christ has not been raised, then everything is in vain, we will cover this more in a later devotion, but for today, if Christ had not been raised, why then did the apostles continue in the Way, why would they have been so willing to undergo suffering in the many ways in which they did through persecution and in martyrdom? Something amazing, incredible, astonishing, (we could list so many more words) something life transforming MUST have happened to persuade them that without any shadow of doubt whatsoever, Jesus really was who he claimed to be and fulfilled all that the Scriptures had foretold about him.

 

He really was worth forsaking all else to follow! Now, the fourth aspect of this ‘which is of first importance’ is that Paul continues to say that he appeared, that is, the risen Jesus appeared to many, and in doing so was giving undeniable proof that the One who had died and who had been buried, really was alive.

 

Luke says it this way, ‘He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God’ Acts 1:3.

 

He Has Risen, He Has Risen, He Has Risen, Jesus is Alive!