Sunday's Message - Victory and Application (15:50-58)

On Sunday, April 19, we started a new sermon series entitled The Good News of Resurrection: An Exploration of 1 Corinthians 15. During this five-past worship series, we’ll look at how the Apostle Paul viewed the resurrection of Jesus and discuss how it might shape our faith and outlook. We’re considering the following topics:

• April 19 - The Foundation of the Resurrection (15:1-11)
• April 26 - Why the Resurrection Matters (15:12-19)
• May 3 - The Order of the Resurrection (15:20-34)
• May 10 - The Resurrected Body (15:35-49)
• May 17 - Victory and Application (15:50-58)

On Sunday, we focused on 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and discussed how our resurrection represents victory. Below are a YouTube video and the text of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).  You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page. 

Now, some of y’all might not realize it, but Thursday, May 14, was a pretty important day. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it was every bit as important as Monday, February 23, or Wednesday, March 11, or Thursday, April 23. Of course, if you’re not a football fan, you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. But if you do follow one or more of the 32 teams in the NFL, then you know that the combine for those entering the draft started on February 23. And free agents could be signed after March 11. And of course, April 23 marked the beginning of the NFL draft right there on the north shore in Pittsburgh. And on May 14, well the National Football League released its 2026 Regular Season football schedule, which included a Wednesday night kick-off game, the first game ever to be played on Thanksgiving Eve, and eleven international games played in London, Munich, Madrid, and Mexico City, but also in Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, and Paris. I guess American Football is going global in a big way.

Of course, as a fan of both the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers, my primary interest didn’t really involve games overseas, which, by the way, the Colts are playing in London and the Steelers in Paris. No, there were two reasons I was drawn to the schedule. First, I wanted to see if the Colts and Steelers were playing one another, which they are on October 11 in Pittsburgh. But second, and this was probably the most important, I wanted to see if I could figure out how many wins there were on the schedules. And to tell you the truth, for my two teams, well, it doesn’t look half bad. I mean, they get to play both the Browns and the Titans; and because of that, their strength of schedule is pretty low. Of course, given how the Colts and the Steelers played at the end of last year, I’m pretty sure that fans of the Patriots and the Eagles might be expecting some victories themselves.

And you know, this business about victory, well, that’s going to be the focus of the last message in this series we’ve been following since the middle of April entitled The Good News of Resurrection: An Exploration of 1 Corinthians 15. Now, as y’all know, during this time, we’ve been talking about what Paul had to say about the resurrection of the dead, starting with him showing that the resurrection of Jesus was grounded in genuine history, eyewitness testimony and divine grace. And then he wrote about why it’s important to believe that the same thing is going to happen to us, because that kind of faith can enable us to hope and can help us to endure and can motivate us to share. And with that established, he went on to explain the order of the resurrection, you know, how Jesus was the first and we’re going to follow and how, in this time between the already and the not yet, we can wait with patience and anticipation and freedom. And then last week, he described what our resurrection was going to be like, you know, how it was going to be a transition and a transformation and the culmination. Now, that’s what we’ve already discussed.

And this morning, we’ll see how Paul brought it all together by focusing on the victory we’re going to experience after the general resurrection of the dead and how that vision can shape us as we go about our living on this side of the grave. In fact, in these last eight verses in chapter fifteen, I think Paul reminded the Corinthians and he reminds us of three victory characteristics that we’re going to experience when we’re raised from death.

For example, based on what Paul wrote, after the resurrection, first, I think our victory will be complete. In other words, according to what he said, I believe it’ll be radical, in fact so off the chain it’s actually hard to get our heads around it right now. I mean, just listen to what Paul wrote:

My friends, I want you to know that our bodies of flesh and blood will decay. This means they cannot share in God’s kingdom, which lasts forever. I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed. It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. [1 Corinthians 15:50-54a, CEV]

Now, that was what he wrote, and just think about what it means. In a very real sense, when we’re raised from the dead, man, on a fundamental level, everything about us is going to change and it’s going to happen immediately. As a matter of fact, considering what he said, it’s really not surprising that Paul compared dying to falling asleep, because quicker than an eye can blink or a trumpet can sound, the dead will be raised. In other words, after we die, in our next conscious moment, we’re going to be awake, sort of like you wake up after surgery in the recovery room. And when that happens, we’re going to be different. This body we now have, you know the one that’s weak and fragile, the one that ages and breakdowns, I’m talking about the one that eventually dies and decays, man, it’s going to be changed. It’s going to be changed to a body that’s eternal and immortal and indestructible, I’m talking about a body that’s ready to stand before the Son of the Man when he returns. You see, after the resurrection of the dead, our metamorphosis, our transfiguration, our change will be radical and complete. 

And I’ll tell you, believing this, man, it’s got to shape our expectations. I mean, when we trust that regardless of what we might face along the way, regardless of what problems and pain we may have to endure and regardless of how we might leave this mortal toil, there’s resurrection on the other side, and we will be change, I’ll tell you, when this is right there at the core of our faith, we really have no reason to worry, because we can see God on the other side. And God will change us into someone who’s ready to enter into eternity, new men and women, in a new heaven and a new earth. I mean, this can be our vision, something that I believe is going to happen because, after the resurrection, first, our victory will be complete. 

But not only that, second, I think our victory will also be cosmic. You see, we’re not going to be the only thing that God will change. The very fabric of the universe will be different after the dead are raised. I mean, just listen to what Paul wrote:

Then the Scriptures will come true,

“Death has lost the battle!

Where is its victory?

    Where is its sting?”

Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory! [1 Corinthians 15:54b-57, CEV]

You see, according to Paul, after the resurrection of the dead, the duo of sin and death is going to end. And I’ll tell you, I believe the impact of this, man, it’s going to be cosmic in scope. And I have a good reason for saying that. You see, even though my knowledge of science is very limited, I know about something called entropy, you know, how, given enough time, everything breaks down. In other words, everything dies, in that it stops being what it was. And I think that applies to all things. As Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote, “The stream will cease to flow; The wind will cease to blow; ... For all things must die.” Now that’s just the way it is. But according to what Paul wrote, that’s going to change, because in the end, take it to the bank, death is goner. And what’s more, so is sin. And the Law, all those structures that limit us and prevent us from becoming anything more than we were created to be, they’re going to lose their power to control and restrain. You see, when Jesus Christ was raised he started something that will eventually include all creation. And in that way, the victory will be cosmic.

And I’ll tell you, trusting in this, man, I think it can shape our emotions. I mean, when we believe that the coming resurrection is going to change everything, well, we have no reason to fear the future. I mean, no matter how bad things seem to be right now, everything we consider “now” is temporary, not eternal. And even though, by active intent or passive neglect, we may make an absolute mess of our own lives and we may do enormous damage to the world around us, we lack the power to derail the intention of God. You see, his will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven whether we ask for it or not. Therefore, we don’t need to be afraid of our ultimate future, because it’s firmly in God’s hands. And for that reason, we can actually look forward with assurance and confidence and hope. Take it to the bank, our emotions will change. Why? Man, that’s easy. According to what Paul wrote, I believe after the resurrection, second, our victory will be cosmic. 

And third, in these verses, I think Paul also reminds us that our victory will be coming, you know, in the future. In other words, it’s not present right now. And that’s probably a good thing, because it means that everyone here this morning has some living to do before we wake up in a recreated universe. I mean, just listen to how Paul finished up this chapter dealing with the resurrection:

My dear friends, stand firm and don’t be shaken. Always keep busy working for the Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile. [1 Corinthians 15:58, CEV]

Now that’s what he wrote. You see, since we live after the first Easter, as I said just a few minutes ago, right now we’re living between resurrections. I mean, on one hand, in most ways, the world is pretty much the same as it was when God made that little mud man named Adam and breathed into him that live-giving spirit. And from that moment on, well, entropy kicked in, didn’t it? As Robert Frost wrote in that wonderful poem Nothing Gold Can Stay:

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay. 

Now, on one hand, that’s our world. On the other hand, though, we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we have faith that what God did for him, man, he’s going to do for us. And when he does, our victory is going to be complete and cosmic. You see, right now, we really do live in the middle, with our expectations and emotions shaped by both the already and the not yet. I mean, whether we like it or not, we just can’t escape the fact that our ultimate victory will be coming; therefore, we’re going to have to wait.

But I’ll tell you, I believe knowing this has got to shape our lives, or at the very least, how we choose to live them. Of course, as we go about living, I think it’s really easy to assume that we’ll always have time to do all the stuff we want to do. It’s like what T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem, The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock:

There will be time, there will be time 

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; 

There will be time to murder and create, 

And time for all the works and days of hands 

That lift and drop a question on your plate;         

Time for you and time for me, 

And time yet for a hundred indecisions, 

And for a hundred visions and revisions, 

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

Now, that’s what he wrote, “There will be time.” But of course, deep down, we all know that’s just not true. I mean, it’s easy to believe that we’ll always have time, that is until we don’t. But think about it, just knowing this, well, maybe that can be a reminder that now is the time to act. In other words, maybe now is the time to make the best use of what we have as we live between the resurrections. I mean, maybe now is the time to do what we can to obey Jesus Christ and to love both God and neighbor. And now may be the time to do this boldly, possibly by taking a few risks and thinking outside the box, confident that, as Paul wrote, “You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile.” [1 Corinthians 15:58b, CEV] You see, this is the life we can live, when, third, we believe our victory will be coming. 

Of course, when you’re talking about something that’s in the hands of God, well, we can be pretty certain, right? But as it relates to the 2026 NFL season, well, personally I’m not willing to bet the farm that all those Colt and Steeler wins I can see as I look at the schedule are going to materialize on the field. Of course, if they did, they wouldn’t need to play the game. Still, thinking about what might happen for either the Colts or the Steelers on Sunday, February 14, 2027, well, it’s still fun.

But you know, if we can’t be sure of what will happen with our favorite teams next fall, I think we can be confident of what will happen after we die. You see, sometime in the future God will raise us from the dead; therefore, right here and now, we can trust that our victory will be complete and our victory will be cosmic and our victory will come, three truths that I believe can shape our expectations and emotions and lives. At least, that was what I think the Apostle Paul believed, something we can see in 1 Corinthians 15; therefore, in my opinion, there really is good news in resurrection.