Made Like Him, Like Him We Rise

Well, please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to the book of 1 Corinthians.

! Our passage this morning is the second half of chapter 15.

! It's 1 Corinthians 15, verses 35-58.

1 Corinthians 15:35–58

If you don't have your own Bibles, you can find that in the pew Bibles there in front of you.

1 Corinthians 15, verses 35-58.

1 Corinthians 15:35–58

And when you found it in your Bibles, let's stand in honor of the reading of God's Word this morning.

1 Corinthians 15, verses 35-58.

1 Corinthians 15:35–58

1 Corinthians 15, verses 36-58.

1 Corinthians 15:36–58

1 Corinthians 15, verses 36-58.

1 Corinthians 15:36–58

1 Corinthians 15, verses 36-59.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

1 Corinthians 15, verse 37-58.

1 Corinthians 15:37–58

What is sown is perishable.

What is raised is imperishable.

It is sown in dishonor.

It is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness.

It is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body.

It is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Thus it is written,

The first man Adam became a living being.

The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

But it is not the spiritual that's first, but the natural and then the spiritual.

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust.

The second man is from heaven.

As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust.

And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,

we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

I'll tell you this, brothers.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment.

In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.

And we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable,

and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,

then shall come to pass the saying that is written,

Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

The sting.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord,

knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Father, we praise you for this word, and we pray again,

would you fix our hope on eternity with Christ resurrected in the new heavens and new earth.

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Well, this is week two of our mini-series on the resurrection.

Last week, Easter Sunday, we saw the glorious truth of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

And the plan is, this week and Lord willing, next week,

we're going to continue exploring this truth of resurrection

as we look at the implications that Jesus' resurrection has for us.

And so I want to ask the question this morning,

is it possible to be too spiritual?

Is it possible to be too spiritually minded?

You may have heard the quote before.

It's often falsely attributed to C.S. Lewis.

It says, you don't have a soul.

You are a soul.

You have a body.

You don't have a soul.

You are a soul.

That's what you really are.

You're spiritual in nature.

You just have a body.

The soul is what lasts forever, but this body is kind of an accessory to the soul

that eventually will be discarded and done away with.

Apparently, C.S. Lewis never said that, not on record at least.

And to be honest, I'm not sure who originally said that.

But as we look at our passage here this morning,

it may as well have been somebody from the church in Corinth.

Now, apparently, as we saw last week,

the Corinthians are having some issues here in the church.

They're having some very serious practical, moral issues

that Paul addresses in this letter.

They're also having some doctrinal issues here in the church.

Some there in Corinth are trying to remove

a key fundamental piece of Christian doctrine.

You remember what it was?

They could not wrap their minds around the reality

of the resurrection from the dead.

As we saw last time in the first half of the chapter,

Paul confidently argued that if the dead are not raised,

then Christ is not raised.

And if Christ is not raised,

then this whole structure of Christianity

comes crumbling down to the ground.

They had such a hard time wrapping their minds

around a physical future for the people of God.

It seems as if the Corinthians were just so spiritual,

spiritual, so spiritually minded,

so spiritually focused, so spiritually oriented

that they simply could not conceive of a physical future.

The physical body for them was an afterthought

and the resurrection body was an absurdity.

Why in the world would we need or want a new body?

As I thought about this issue there in Corinth this week,

I thought, you know what, that's not just a Corinthian problem, is it?

I'd be willing to argue that many modern Christians

are far too spiritual in their understanding of eternity.

For many Christians, our view of eternity

and what happens after we die,

our hope for the future, ends with heaven.

It ends with us escaping from this world.

It ends with the separation of body and soul.

It ends with us getting rid of these old bodies

and going to be with the Lord.

And praise God, all of that is true for you in Christ, believer.

But here we see, Paul says,

our future hope is even greater than that.

The hope that we have in Christ,

the hope that Christ has purchased for His people

by His resurrection from the dead,

is that we too will be raised up like Him at the last day

with new, glorified, resurrected bodies.

So let's look at this this morning.

I want to look at our text.

I just want to ask five questions here this morning

about the resurrection.

This will be our outline if you're taking notes.

Five questions about the resurrection.

I'm sure you have way more than that,

and so do I.

But here's five.

First, what does the Bible say about our hope?

What does the Bible say about our hope?

Does this really match up with what the Bible says?

And if so, does our hope match up with what the Bible says?

Well, I want to go to just a few other places

outside of our passage here very quickly

and show this to you.

One place I think of is John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead.

You remember the story?

The Lazarus has died.

Jesus is not there.

That's intentional.

And by the time He does show up,

Mary and Martha are there, and they're upset.

You remember what they said?

Lord, if you had been here,

none of this would have happened.

And they're feeling, they're encountering the grief

and the weight of losing their brother.

And how does Jesus comfort them?

Do you remember what He said?

If it were you and I, we might have said something like,

well, Martha, Lazarus is in heaven.

He believed in Jesus.

He trusts the promises of God.

Lazarus has died, and now he's in heaven.

That would be the comfort that we would give them, right?

And when I preach at a Christian funeral,

often the comfort that we give is that

this departed beloved friend is now with the Lord.

But that's not what Jesus says.

What did He say?

Your brother will rise again.

Now, of course, Martha didn't know that he meant

in like five seconds he's about to rise again, right?

But even so, her comfort in the face of death

was not heaven, it was resurrection.

Your brother will rise again.

Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Paul says to the Philippians,

our citizenship is in heaven.

And if we were to finish the sentence,

we might say something like,

our citizenship is in heaven,

and one day when we die, we get to go there.

What does he say?

Our citizenship is in heaven,

and from it we await a Savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body

to be like His glorious body

by the power that enables Him

to subject all things to Himself.

In other words, church,

we're not ultimately waiting to go there

without the body.

Ultimately, we're waiting for Christ

to come back here

and transform everything,

including our bodies.

That's what we have to look forward to.

But one more place,

1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

Again, we're dealing with death here

in 1 Thessalonians.

The Thessalonians are worried

about their dead friends,

their dead brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so Paul says in chapter 4, verse 13,

we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers,

about those who are asleep, dead,

that you may not grieve as others do

who have no hope.

So what's the hope, Paul?

What's the hope that we have?

Why should they not grieve?

And again, if we were to answer that,

we might say something like,

well, we don't grieve because we have the hope of heaven.

What does he say?

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so, through Jesus,

God will bring with him

those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven

with a cry of command,

with the voice of an archangel,

with the sound of the trumpet of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

He's coming back here.

And the dead will be raised.

Do you see it?

In other words, believer,

our hope is not just spiritual.

It is also very, very physical and tangible.

We will receive new resurrected bodies

at the return of Christ.

Praise God.

And so then my question is,

back to our passage,

question number two,

well, what then will it be like?

This is the question we all have, isn't it?

Tell us what this resurrected body

is going to be like.

And in fact, it looks like Paul,

he anticipates that question in our passage,

doesn't he?

Look there to verse 35.

He says,

someone's going to ask,

how are the dead raised?

With what kind of body do they come?

And how does he answer?

You foolish person.

Doesn't Paul just drive you crazy?

You foolish person.

It sounds a little bit harsh to me, doesn't it?

I think what this response shows us

is that Paul is expecting the Corinthians

just to write this whole thing off

completely as absurd.

He knows that they're just so obsessed

with being spiritual people

that the whole idea of resurrecting the body

is just ridiculous to them.

I mean, how are the dead going to be raised?

Paul, are you serious?

What kind of body are they going to get?

You actually believe this, Paul?

And Paul says,

yes, in fact, I do.

In fact, you already have all around you,

if you would pay attention,

you already have examples

of what I'm trying to talk about here.

If you will just look around you

at the world you live in,

you have examples all around you

of transformation.

Think of the seeds that you sow into the ground.

For the believer,

death is like sowing seeds.

Y'all know I'm not much of a gardener

or a farmer.

Amanda, my wife, likes to garden.

I like to eat what comes out of the garden.

That's about the extent of my involvement there.

But I know this,

the seeds,

when you buy seeds at a store,

they don't look like the final product,

do they?

In fact, you get a little packet

and it has a picture on the packet

for simple people like me

so that we know

what should come out of the ground

if it's successful.

The final product comes from the seed,

but if you were to hold up a seed

and the final product

hand by hand,

side by side together,

you can hardly believe

that this end product

comes from this little seed.

I mean,

you hold up a sunflower seed

next to a full-grown sunflower,

you can hardly believe

that this came from that thing.

Paul says,

so it is

with our bodies.

God has put into nature itself

examples of life,

death,

resurrection,

and transformation.

So don't write it off.

You see it every day.

Not only that,

he says you also see

examples of distinction

and different kinds of bodies

all around you.

You do have a point of reference

for this.

It's not as absurd as you think.

Look at all around you.

Not all flesh is the same.

Birds have wings

so they can fly in the air.

Fish have fins and gills

so that they can swim in the water.

They are fit for the water.

God knows

how to give each part

of his creation

a body that they need

for the realm

that they live in.

And you have an earthly body

that's fit for your life

here on earth.

And yes,

you will have

a heavenly body

that's fit

for your life

in eternity.

So if that's true,

Paul,

then again,

we need to ask,

well,

what in the world

will it be like?

And look there,

starting in verse 42.

Because here on,

he begins to describe

this new body to us.

He says,

your resurrected body,

the body that believers in Christ

have to look forward to,

he says,

your resurrected body

will be imperishable.

Look there at verse 42.

What's sown is perishable,

but what is raised

is imperishable.

Now,

we all know that

this present body

is perishable.

I don't have to tell you that.

Our bodies age,

they hurt,

they bruise,

they bleed,

they get sick,

they have runny noses

and sore throats.

They got to go to the doctor

and eventually,

for every single one of us,

eventually the time comes

when they simply cannot keep going

and they perish.

Paul says,

I got good news for you.

Our resurrected body

is going to be imperishable.

This body that we get to enjoy

for the rest of eternity

is not subject to pain

or decay

or deterioration.

The mind doesn't fade.

The body doesn't weaken.

Achy knees and arthritis,

bad backs,

bad breath,

carpal tunnel,

cancer,

all of it's gone.

Praise God.

God,

if you're suffering

physically,

and most of us are

in some way,

if you are suffering

physically,

Paul has good news.

Yes,

you who are in the Lord

get to go to heaven

and be done with it all,

but then

you will be made new

with a new body

that will be totally alive

for the first time.

No pain,

no suffering,

no threat of death.

D.A. Carson

says,

you're not suffering

from anything

that a good resurrection

can't fix.

Amen.

Our new bodies

will be imperishable.

Not only this,

Paul says,

your resurrected body

will be glorious.

Verse 43,

it's sown in dishonor,

but it's raised in glory.

When we rise,

our new bodies

will be perfect.

Are you in search

of the perfect body?

You want a plan

to get the perfect body?

Put your faith in Christ

and hope in eternity.

Our new bodies,

he says,

will be glorious.

We'll be finally free

from the presence

and the power

and the penalty

of sin in the flesh.

We will be

as the bride of Christ

presented to him

without blemish.

Spotless,

and pure

and glorious

and radiant.

We will be holy

as he is holy

at last.

Praise God.

In fact,

he says,

this new body

will be powerful.

Verse 43,

it's sown in weakness

and it's raised up

in power.

It will be raised

in spiritual power.

You think of the garden

as Christ went to pray

before his crucifixion?

What did he say

to the disciples?

You remember?

He tells his disciples,

stay awake

and pray

that you might not

enter into temptation.

Why?

Because he says,

the spirit indeed

is willing,

but what?

Help me.

That flesh is weak.

All of us experience this.

Paul agrees

in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

Paul says,

I know that nothing good

dwells in me

that is in my flesh,

for I have the desire

to do what's right,

but I don't have the ability

to carry it out.

That's the tension

that every genuine believer

in Christ feels

in their battle with sin

deep down

by the grace of God.

We desire to live

for the Lord,

but in our flesh

we're so weak,

but not in the resurrection.

In the resurrection

we will be raised up

in power.

Why?

Because ultimately

Paul says,

the natural body

will be put to death

and we will be raised up

a spiritual body.

Verse 44.

It is sown a natural body.

It is raised a spiritual body.

In other words, church,

our hope is that

because we are united

to Jesus Christ by faith,

in our resurrection

we will be made like Jesus.

Made like Him.

Like Him we rise.

We just sang.

That's an incredible hope,

isn't it?

Our hope is not just

that we can die

and escape all the bad stuff

in this life.

Anybody can hope in that.

In fact, non-believers

all over the planet

have hope like that.

That's why they rob

from our comfort

when death comes

at their door.

When death comes

around a non-believer

they say things like,

well, they're in a better place.

They're resting in peace.

Anybody can hope in that.

That's not the extent

of our hope.

Our hope is that

we will be with Christ.

Not only that we'll be with Him,

but that we will be made

like Christ.

Look there to verse 47.

It says,

The first man, Adam,

was from the earth,

a man of dust.

The second man,

the second Adam,

that's Christ,

is from heaven.

As was the man of dust,

so also are those

who are of the dust.

And as is the man of heaven,

so also are those

who are of heaven.

Here's the key.

Just as we have borne

the image of the man of dust,

so also we shall bear

the image of the man of heaven.

I know we just had Easter

last Sunday,

but we need to talk

about Christmas

and the glory,

the miracle of the incarnation

of Jesus.

The wonder of what happened there

at the birth of Christ

is that for the first time

in all eternity,

the Son of God

took on human flesh.

The Word became flesh

and dwelt among us.

We are made in the image of God.

Paul says in Colossians

that He is the very image

of the invisible God.

He took on flesh.

Why did He do it?

In order to redeem His people.

He came to be as we are.

He came to live in the place

of His people,

die in the place of His people,

and then rise up from the grave

bodily with a new,

imperishable,

powerful,

glorious,

spiritual body

so that we might be made like Him.

He came to be as we are

so that we might go to be as He is.

Made like Him,

like Him,

we rise.

Robert Candlish,

he says it like this.

He says,

He is risen for them.

Then they rise in Him.

They rise because He has risen.

They rise as He is risen.

They rise to be as He is

and where He is now that He is risen.

They rise as His body,

the fullness of Him

that filleth all in all.

Our hope

is not just that we get to be with Him,

but that we get to be like Him.

We who trust in Christ by faith

will be raised up from the dead,

physically,

in new,

glorified bodies.

That's our hope, church.

So third question,

why must it happen?

Never think about that.

Why is this whole thing even necessary?

Why do we need that sort of transformation?

Look there to verse 50.

Verse 50 tells us,

Paul says,

I tell you this, brothers,

flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,

nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

In other words,

we are not currently in our present state

fit for eternity.

Something's got to change.

The kingdom of God itself

is imperishable

and glorious

and full of power

and spiritual.

And for it to be filled with citizens,

those who are made to enjoy it

for the rest of eternity,

well, then they too

must be made imperishable,

glorious,

full of power,

and spiritual.

This is the key issue, isn't it?

Our flesh and blood,

as it currently is right now,

cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

We must be transformed.

Our capacity

and our capability

is far too limited

in our current state

to enjoy all that God has in store

for us who believe.

Yeah, every now and then,

we have a meal around here.

It's about time for another one.

A potluck

or a Thanksgiving feast

and there's never once

been a shortage of food,

right?

Not in my time, at least.

Every time we go,

there are meats

and veggies

and casseroles

and pies

and cakes.

There's more food

than we could possibly

begin to enjoy.

And then we got that whole table

of desserts.

It's all there.

Now, I will never understand it.

Every time we do it,

I stand up right here

and I say,

if you don't have lunch plans already,

come and join us.

We want you to come.

There's a feast back there

for you to enjoy.

There's a seat at a table for you.

Come and enjoy it.

And every time,

there are people

who leave hungry

without eating.

I stay.

All right?

And every time,

as I stay,

I run into the same two problems.

For one,

my plate is always too small.

Miss Ann breaks out

the heavy plates.

We can't mess with the flimsy ones

for Thanksgiving meal.

We get the heavy plates out.

We know we got to hold some weight.

But even so,

try as I may,

even with a big plate,

my appetite can't handle all of it.

I simply,

as much as I might want to,

I cannot try.

I can't enjoy all of the feasts

that's laid out before me.

My capacity is too small.

Well, friend,

in the gospel,

we are called,

invited,

invited,

to come and to feast

on the goodness of God.

That's what I stand up

and do every single week.

I say,

come,

repent of your sins.

And by faith in Christ,

you get to enjoy

all that God

has to offer

now and into eternity.

I make that invitation

every week.

And every week,

there's some who walk away hungry.

But for those who

have come to faith in Him

by the grace of God,

what happens in us

is that we've been given

a desire for the Lord.

It's a hunger for Him.

Now,

that didn't come from us.

That came from Him.

And it's evidence of new life

that you've been born again.

We desire Him

and we love Him

and we lose our appetite for sin.

We gain an appetite for Christ.

But in this present life,

we simply don't have the capacity

to enjoy all that He has in store for us.

The feast is there,

but our plates are too small.

The desire in a believer is there.

Our appetite is limited.

One prayer that we all

ought to pray regularly is,

Lord, would You increase

my desire for You?

Lord, would You increase

my appetite for You?

Lord, would You increase

my capacity to enjoy You?

We pray that now.

But when we are resurrected,

guess what?

We won't have to pray

that prayer anymore.

Why?

Because we will be made

capable of enjoying God

in His eternal kingdom

for the rest of eternity.

That's what awaits us in Christ.

The more you spend time

thinking on that

and meditating on it

and putting your hope in it,

the more you desire it

and the more you ask,

well, when will this happen?

When will this come?

When can I come

and enjoy God forever

in the new heavens

and the new earth?

When will I eat and drink

with Christ Himself

in the kingdom of God?

And that's our fourth question.

When will it happen?

Look there to verse 51 with me.

Paul says,

Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed

in a moment,

in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound

and the dead in Christ

will be raised imperishable

and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body

must put on the imperishable.

And this mortal body

must put on immortality.

When the perishable

puts on the imperishable

and the mortal puts on immortality,

then shall come to pass the saying.

Then shall come to pass

the saying that is written,

Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

The sting of death is sin

and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God

who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now Paul is quoting here

from the book of Isaiah,

Isaiah 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25.

I'll read the passage to you.

He says,

On this mountain,

the Lord of hosts

will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food,

a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food,

full of marrow,

of aged wine,

well-refined.

And He will swallow up

on this mountain

the covering that is cast

over all peoples,

the veil that is spread

over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever.

And the Lord God

will wipe away tears

from all faces.

And the reproach of His people

He will take away

from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day,

Behold, this is our God.

We have waited for Him

that He might save us.

This is the Lord.

We have waited for Him.

Let us be glad

and rejoice

in His salvation.

And believers have

hoped in this

for hundreds of years.

This is the days of Isaiah.

When will it happen?

When will death

be swallowed up?

When will the Lord

wipe away every tear?

When will we get

to enjoy this feast?

When will we be resurrected?

When will all things

be made new?

At the return

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's our hope, church.

Revelation picks up on this.

John says in Revelation chapter 21,

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

I 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.

And I saw the holy city,

New Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven

from God,

prepared as a bride

adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice

from the throne saying,

Behold,

the dwelling place of God

is with man.

He will dwell with them

and they will be His people.

God Himself will be with them

as their God.

He will wipe away

every tear from their eyes

and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning

nor crying

nor pain anymore

for the former things

have passed away.

And He who was seated

on the throne said,

Behold,

I am making all things new.

Church,

the realization of our hope,

the end of death,

the end of suffering,

the renewal of all things,

the full enjoyment

of the presence of the Lord

in His eternal kingdom

will come at the return

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ,

our hope

is not simply

that we would escape

from this world

and get away from all of it,

but that Jesus Christ

would come and finish

what He started.

That He would come

and finally put an end

to sin

and an end to death

and an end to the devil

and that we would be made

fit for eternity with Him

in the new heavens

and the new earth.

That's what awaits us

who believe in Christ.

Our hope is not just heaven

as good as that will be.

It is the new heavens

and the new earth

and we,

the new Jerusalem,

fully prepared

and adorned

for all eternity

with the Lord.

Friend,

is that your hope?

If not,

then you're called

right this moment

to turn

and to put your faith

in Christ

and receive this certain hope

of life forever with Him.

And if so,

if this is your hope,

then friend,

we need to ask

one final question here

as we close.

Fifth.

Fifth question.

So what?

So what?

You know,

Paul is never content

to just give us doctrine

without application.

He wants theology

that walks.

What difference

does all of this make?

God wants you to look there

to verses 57

and following.

And here,

Paul closes out

with four applications.

Application number one,

thank God

for the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

Thank God.

If this is what awaits us,

then we ought to live

a life of thankfulness

to God in Christ

right now.

Thanks be to God,

he says,

who gives us victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you,

God,

for rescuing me

from this body of death.

Thank you,

God,

for hope beyond the grave.

Thank you,

God,

for the hope of freedom

from the pain

and the aches

and the suffering

that I feel in this life.

Thank you,

God,

for the certain hope

of eternity forever

in a physical,

real,

tangible,

remade universe.

Second application.

Therefore,

my beloved brothers,

be steadfast.

be steadfast.

In the midst

of an ever-changing world,

our culture

changes day by day,

ever-changing expectations

and norms

for what's wrong,

what's right,

what's acceptable,

what's not.

The certain hope

of eternity

with the Lord

in an unshakable,

unchanging kingdom

encourages God's people

to be faithful.

Life is just a vapor.

And then,

eternity.

Be steadfast,

believer.

Third application,

he says,

be immovable.

Be immovable.

You know,

when your heart

and your mind

and your soul

are so anchored

anchored in eternity,

you will not be

easily shaken

by the present.

When you're so full

of hope

and eager expectation

for the joys

of the kingdom

to come,

you will not

be easily uprooted

by the trials

of the present.

When your mind

is steadfastly

fixed on the truth,

you will not be

easily swept away

by every wind

and wave

of false doctrine.

Be immovable,

believer,

as you hope

in your certain future.

Application number four.

He says,

always abound

in the work

of the Lord.

Always

abound

in the work

of the Lord.

Church,

we have a mission

here in this life.

We have a mission

that Christ

has given us

as the church

here in this world.

So long as we have

life and breath

in this physical body,

we are to be

always abounding

in the work

of the Lord.

We have a mission

to accomplish.

Y'all know

the mission

of our church.

We exist

to magnify

the glory of God

in the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

Three ways

we do it.

As we enjoy God,

as we equip

the saints,

as we evangelize

the lost,

our hope

in our certain future

does not mean

that we just

check out

and wait for death

and wait for eternity

with the Lord.

No.

We know

that we ought

to always abound

in the work

of the Lord,

knowing that in the Lord

your labor

is not in vain,

but will echo

into eternity

to the praise

and glory of God.

Let's pray.

Lord,

Lord,

God,

we thank you

for the hope

of eternity

with Christ.

We thank you

that Christ

has come to be

as we are,

that he might

make us

as he is

in resurrection

power.

We thank you,

Lord,

for the certain

hope that we have

that we get

to enjoy you,

feast forever

on all of

your glory,

all of your grace,

that we'll be made

fit for eternity.

Lord,

we pray that

in light of this

we would hope

in what you've given us

and that we would

always abound

in the work

of the Lord.

We pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.