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Born To Die, Dying To Live (1 Corinthians 15)

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MOTIVATE

  • 0 funerals in 2025 (56 since 2010)
  • 2026 will likely bring sadness or shock / if it hasn’t for you in other ways already in 2025.
  • I will turn 49 in 2026… death becomes more mindful than yesteryear.
  • I also know many of you have questions or even fears… And life beyond death is a fascination inside every human heart bc 100% of us will face it; we cannot escape it.
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “The young may die, the old must.”
  • My drum beat: Christmas is merry because Jesus is mighty over death
  • Christmastide
The Church Calendar: Focusing On Christ Through Liturgical Living

EXAMINE  1 Corinthians 15             
Born To Die, Dying To Live

Corinthians is a letter to a church in the city of Corinth…

Corinth was a port city, much like Baltimore MD, that was extremely populated, exceptionally prosperous and excessively promiscuous.

A religious man named Paul had a dramatic life exurreperience that he gave up his religion in exchange for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.[1] His testimony was, “I had great amounts of human wisdom and positional authority, but I can only speak of Jesus Christ and him crucified” (cf 1 Cor 2:1-5).  

Jesus’ resurrection is our DNA story (1Cor 15:1-11).

  • Everyone loves a good story: adventure movie, romantic novel, warm conversation. They cultivate imagination and capture hearts. They are like oxygen to our humanity…
  • Paul is reminding Corinthians of their DNA, amid their immorality and chaos.
    • Christ died for our sins Jesus was born to die, so that we may die to live.
    • Christ was buried (definitive death) and raised
    • Christ appeared (females / doubters / eyewitnesses became martyrs) 
  • The gospel of God’s true story for humanity – “first importance… in accordance with the Scriptures.” God always had a plan.


> Christianity is not a myth. C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”[2]  
> You are not an afterthought. God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons [and daughters] through Jesus Christ (Eph 1:4-5)

“Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.” #CSLewis

 Jesus’ resurrection assures us of a new body (1Cor 15:35-53)

  • 1Cor is all about the body[3]:
    Ch 1 (baptism), Ch 2 (Spirit indwelling), Ch 3-4 (division in church body), Ch 5-10 (immorality and sanctification of body), Ch 11 (Communion w/ the body), Ch 12 (gifts in body), Ch 13 (love), Ch 14 (worship in body), Ch 15 (resurrection of body)
  • Jesus’ body was human. 
    • Son of a craftsman (Mt 13:55). Calloused working hands. Healthy physique due to much walking. Achy back. Sweaty hair. Dirty fingernails. Exhausted from daily work, needing to hydrate and eat – and called a glutton, and thus also needing to digest; also sleeps especially during boat rides.
    • He’s well read and studied, knowing TaNaK.
    • Also, well experienced ability to tell stories about the range of life and vocational experiences.
    • Rejoiced at weddings. Wept at funerals.
    • Treasured family (parents / cousin / siblings) and created friendships.
    • Felt pain emotionally, and physically with sickness – knowing to heal – and ultimately feeling suffering to the point of blood and asphyxiation.
    • Yet, at every discomfort, distress, and dying breath, Jesus’ human weakness was also His strength in depending upon the Lord through prayer.
  • Jesus’ earthly body was sown in corruption, and like a seed planted in the ground. Yet, what was sown as a natural body was raised a spiritual body. The 1st Adam was of the dust and the 2nd Adam was from heaven.
  • In the course of 40 days, Jesus’ body appeared and acted in similar fashion as the mortal body.
    • Jesus was born to die AND born to rise! Christmas launched the arrow at the target of a more conscious and complete life. Jesus walked, ate & drank, cognizant of people and conversed relationally, processed past events with eternal perspective, and he speaks shalom. 
    • Jesus rose so the curse of death could be reversed.
      • Christmas is not Hallmark commercial happiness but God waging war against humanity’s greatest enemy. We celebrate not just a birth but a decisive battle that God has won for us.
      • Christmas offers genuine hope for the fearful and the grieving because death doesn’t win – life does!

  • Christmas launched the arrow at the target of a more conscious and complete life. Jesus was born to die and live forever, so that we might die to self and live with Him.

Jesus’ resurrection demands a grateful labor in God’s harvest (1Cor 15:57-58).

  • Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • THEREFORE, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
  • Life is hard, but eternity apart from Christ is unimaginable hell.
    • So, Christian
      • Do not lounge or stroll toward eternity. Let’s enter eternity exhausted.
      • Do not go gentle into that good night
        Old age should burn and rave at close of day
        Rage, rage against the dying of the light
        – Dylan Thomas, 1914-1953

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

  • Our bodies matter. Let’s enter 2026 with some intention to have healthy and holy bodies for the Lord’s sake.
    – Walk 5K+ steps each day (anything less is sedentary).[4]

    – Workout physically and spiritually.
             Play / Sing[5] & Dance / Chair exercises / Treadmill or Bike / Weights  
             GOSPEL goals / J40 / Serve Somewhere

    – Witness #WhosYour1

  • Our legacy matters. We don’t get to write our legacy but we can live in such a way that others cannot help but mention the name of Jesus with our own. Death is the experience where we leave behind everything we have purchased and take everything we have purposed to be. Let us purpose to be a Jesus-people.
    > What’s your verse for 2026?

  • MOST IMPORTANTLY, reject mild devotion to Jesus. Neutrality or mild devotion makes the statement that Scripture is symbolic or mythical and not historical. If Jesus is raised from the dead, then He is the Lord of life.

We don’t get to write our legacy but we can live in such a way that others cannot help but mention the name of Jesus with our own.

[1] Helpful illustrations to understand Paul’s life change is to imagine a longtime gov leader exchange political parties / or we’ve heard stories of promiscuous celebrities becoming family-oriented & bible reading & church going adherents / or agnostics turning to follow Jesus. 

[2] C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), p.101.

[3] Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 737.

[4] https://www.today.com/health/diet-fitness/how-many-steps-in-a-mile-rcna144282

[5] 1 hour of singing burns about 150 calories / https://www.today.com/health/diet-fitness/how-many-steps-in-a-mile-rcna144282

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