So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Don’t despair!” is a good summary of Paul’s final encouragement as he seeks to apply all he has said about the resurrection to the lives of his readers.
When we began our reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 back in February, I spoke of how many in our world have lost hope, especially in the past twelve months.
However, as we have seen, this inspiring chapter of the Bible gives us abundant reasons to be hopeful!
We have hopeful truth! The death and resurrection of Jesus is not only built upon the reliable foundation of the Scriptures but also upon the eyewitness testimony of hundreds who saw Jesus alive after He was raised.
We can know truth!
We have hopeful faith! Christianity rises and falls upon the physical resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus did not rise, then the Christian message collapses, we have not been forgiven for our sin and we have no hope beyond the grave.
Our faith rests on the sure foundation of Jesus’ resurrection!
We have a hopeful future! By His death and resurrection, Jesus guarantees our resurrection, we will reign with Him and death will be finally destroyed.
God wins!
We have hopeful living! No matter what we endure, what insults we bear or what we deny ourselves, it is all worth it because the resurrection is true. We have the ultimate example of Jesus to follow, and we travel in the good company of others who have gone before us.
We can live with hope in the face of adversity!
We have hopeful transformation! God will not leave our death-doomed bodies to lie in the ground and rot. When Jesus returns for His church, He will transform each one of us into His own resurrected likeness.
We will be upgraded!
We have hope in the face of death! The grave is not the end for all those who love Jesus. The salvation of our souls is secure now and so is the salvation of our bodies. We shall enter His Kingdom with new bodies that are fit for the purpose of loving and serving Him forever.
Death dies!
Little wonder Paul finishes by exhorting us to stay strong morally and to not be shifted in our faith, for the words we declare loudly tomorrow, Easter Sunday, are true:
Don’t despair!” is a good summary of Paul’s final encouragement as he seeks to apply all he has said about the resurrection to the lives of his readers.
When we began our reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 back in February, I spoke of how many in our world have lost hope, especially in the past twelve months.
However, as we have seen, this inspiring chapter of the Bible gives us abundant reasons to be hopeful!
We have hopeful truth! The death and resurrection of Jesus is not only built upon the reliable foundation of the Scriptures but also upon the eyewitness testimony of hundreds who saw Jesus alive after He was raised.
We can know truth!
We have hopeful faith! Christianity rises and falls upon the physical resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus did not rise, then the Christian message collapses, we have not been forgiven for our sin and we have no hope beyond the grave.
Our faith rests on the sure foundation of Jesus’ resurrection!
We have a hopeful future! By His death and resurrection, Jesus guarantees our resurrection, we will reign with Him and death will be finally destroyed.
God wins!
We have hopeful living! No matter what we endure, what insults we bear or what we deny ourselves, it is all worth it because the resurrection is true. We have the ultimate example of Jesus to follow, and we travel in the good company of others who have gone before us.
We can live with hope in the face of adversity!
We have hopeful transformation! God will not leave our death-doomed bodies to lie in the ground and rot. When Jesus returns for His church, He will transform each one of us into His own resurrected likeness.
We will be upgraded!
We have hope in the face of death! The grave is not the end for all those who love Jesus. The salvation of our souls is secure now and so is the salvation of our bodies. We shall enter His Kingdom with new bodies that are fit for the purpose of loving and serving Him forever.
Death dies!
Little wonder Paul finishes by exhorting us to stay strong morally and to not be shifted in our faith, for the words we declare loudly tomorrow, Easter Sunday, are true: