The Danger of Short-Sightedness

Thank you for joining us today.

At Crosschurch, we believe people need Jesus.

People need each other.

People change the world.

And people leave legacies.

Our desire is for you to understand, accept, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thank you for listening.

If you would like to know more about Crosschurch, please visit CrossChurch.com.

Grab your Bible, grab your sermon journal, 1 Corinthians 15 is where we're going to be today.

Next week, we're going to wrap up this series on 1 Corinthians, and we have called 11 Dangers for Every Christian.

Hope it's been a meaningful one for you and your Christian walk.

Today, as I mentioned, I do want to speak to you about living a life that counts for eternity.

And here's the title of the message today.

I want to speak to you about the danger of short-sightedness.

The danger of short-sightedness.

By a show of hands, how many of you wear glasses or contacts like me?

Raise your hand.

Good gracious, we are a struggling congregation right here.

All right.

Some of you are nearsighted, which means that you can see things clearly up close, but then from a distance, you got to have some help.

That's my wife, Meredith.

She can read her Bible today with nothing.

But if we're at the Friday night football game, she's got to have glasses or contacts in to see what's going on.

I'm the opposite.

I'm far-sighted.

Anyone else with me?

Meaning I live most of my life without glasses.

But then whenever I got to read something, my phone, I got to read something on the computer or my Bible and notes, I got to have my glasses.

And uh the weird thing is, like if I were to lift them up, like I can, I can read them.

I may have to pull them away a little bit, but like I can read.

But my doctor described uh to me that I actually have a focusing problem as well.

In other words, I really do have the vision to read my notes right here.

But the reality is that if I do that for very long, my eyes are straining and I don't even know it.

And so my eyes will begin to hurt, my head will begin to hurt.

And uh here's here's why I open up with all that is because I really believe two things are true.

I believe many Christians have both a vision problem and a focusing problem.

A vision problem and a focusing problem.

And it's not being nearsighted or far-sighted.

Uh, it is actually being short-sighted.

We don't think about eternity, and the result is that we live focused on the wrong things.

Now, listen to what I say are the wrong things.

The wrong things are not even bad things, they're just not the best things.

So, like you get you could spend your life even on good things that are not the best things, and the best things are always things that matter for eternity.

And so we're gonna look at this passage together today, and we're gonna begin all the way down in verse 50.

So I want you to scan all the way down there.

Uh, I believe 1 Corinthians 50, uh 15, excuse me, gives us one of the clearest uh presentation and descriptions of the gospel anywhere that you read in the Bible.

In fact, if you're here today, not a Christian, not a follower of Jesus, I would encourage you to go back to verse one this afternoon and read the chapter in its entirety.

You're gonna hear about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

You're gonna hear uh talk about the resurrection of believers from the dead, and uh, we'll even talk about that here in just a minute as we get in.

But let's begin uh for our passage together today, and let's begin reading in verse 50.

Here's what the Bible says I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Underline two words here, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Okay, you say, well, Nick, what is the Bible actually speaking about here?

All right.

Here's what the Bible is saying.

Um, it is speaking about our present condition.

When the Bible says that we are flesh and we are blood, it is emphasizing this idea that we are perishable.

In other words, uh you're not getting younger, you're getting older.

Uh you're not getting, you're not getting better, you're getting worse.

We are we are aging, we are decaying, some of us are balding, you know, all those kind of things.

Uh it said in a not so like uh nice way.

You're dying right now.

Like you're closer to death today than than you were yesterday.

Your your body is aging.

Anybody get out of bed today?

Ah, done rolled my ankle in bed last night.

Like, what did I do?

Okay, you are a perishable being here.

And the Bible says saying this, you cannot inherit the kingdom.

In other words, you cannot go to heaven as a perishable being.

You you've got to be changed.

This is what this passage is about, verse 51.

Paul says, Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep.

This is referencing death.

We shall all not die, but we shall all be changed.

Circle of the word changed in your Bible.

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 here it is again, and we shall all be changed.

This is by the way, what we're about to read today is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament.

All right.

Um, here's what Paul is saying not every Christian will die.

You say, Well, what do you mean about that?

What this means is that if Jesus were to return today, then those believers who are still alive would be caught up with the Lord.

And uh, those who are asleep, those who have died, their resurrection body will be raised with a new immortal body, a new uh imperishable body, and it will meet the soul, and you will become a new person in the air.

So every person who's a Christian will undergo this change, whether you are dead or alive.

I believe this is describing that is known as the rapture of the church.

Okay.

Uh every Christian will experience the rapture if you are alive on earth.

You say, well, what do you mean by Christian?

Here's what I don't mean by Christian.

Uh, a Christian is not someone who just comes to church.

A Christian is not just someone who uh is a moral good person.

A Christian person is not just a nice person.

A Christian is someone who has heard the gospel, that God has loved you so much that he sent his only son Jesus to die for you, and he has resurrected from the grave.

And you hear that message and you say, I don't want to live my life the way I've been living it for my entire life, but I want to follow Jesus.

And so the Bible describes this as I want to repent of my sin and I want to put my faith in Jesus Christ.

If that's never happened before, it can happen in your life today.

I'm gonna give you an opportunity at the end of our service.

Every Christian will experience the reality of verses 51 and 52.

So if you're alive, you'll be caught up in the air.

And if you have already died, you will be risen with a new resurrection body.

Paul references this also in 1 Thessalonians 4.

Look at the screen with me.

He says, We don't want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep.

Again, he's talking about those who have died.

All right, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

Verse 14.

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 this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the second or into the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

What that means is this if you're alive when the rapture happens, you ain't going first, you're going second.

You are in second place.

All right.

This is what verse 16 tells us.

For the Lord himself will descend from the 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.

All right, that's an advantage there.

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.

This is the beauty of eternity with Jesus.

So we will always be with the Lord.

Incredible, incredible passages we're looking at today.

In other words, the trumpet sounds, and believers who have died are given resurrection bodies.

They meet Jesus in the air alongside of other believers who are still alive.

Now, this view of these two passages is what theologians call the premillennial pre-tribulational view of the end times.

It's a lot of that's a mouthful of words.

Premillennial, pre-tribulational view of the end times.

Let me let me like uh chart this out for you in a basic way of how this view interprets the passages of the Bible that speak to the end times.

It may be easier for you to snap a picture of this on your phone than you'd write it down, unless you're super talented.

All right.

Uh, number one, we have the rapture.

It's what we're talking about today in this passage.

Right after the rapture, we will enter into the tribulation, which is seven years of not so good.

And not so good is actually really, really bad.

You do not want to be around during the tribulation.

Then Christ will return physically to earth.

That's the second coming of Jesus, and he will establish the millennium.

It's the thousand-year reign of Christ.

After this, there will be the final judgment when God separates those ultimately to heaven and ultimately uh to hell.

So uh let me be very clear with you on this.

All right.

Much like we've already discussed in chapter 12 a few weeks ago, your view on the end times and how it's gonna play out is a second-tier issue or a secondary issue.

Okay, so so just like we talked about with spiritual gifts, the miraculous spiritual gifts.

Are they around today?

Are they not?

Well, I believe, you know, certain things about that.

I taught you that a few weeks ago.

But you're gonna be in heaven with a lot of people who believe differently about spiritual gifts than you do.

And here's what I say you're gonna be in heaven with a lot of different people who believe differently about the end times than you may do.

Okay.

Um, so if if you know there's a there's a primary issue here in the end times, what is the primary issue?

Jesus will return.

That's the primary issue.

And so if you don't believe in the pre-tribulational, pre-millennial view of the end times like I do, here's what I'd say.

It's okay to be wrong.

All right, it's we're not we are not gonna break fellowship together on that.

I'm kidding.

All right, but you get my you get my drift?

We're not breaking fellowship over that.

What we will break fellowship over are the primary issue in the end times.

If you say, well, Jesus is not gonna come back.

That that's that's a primary issue like Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Primary issue like Bible is the word of God.

Is it making sense so far?

Um, let me give you some clarity on 1 Corinthians 15, okay?

Because I think you got to really like zoom in to understand what Paul's actually getting at here.

Uh, number one is this the focus of this passage is not when Jesus will return.

Now, I think it gives us some aspects of that.

I think it gives us a clue into that, but I don't I don't think that's the focus of the passage.

Second thing is what I would say the focus is.

The focus of the passage is that when he returns, we will be changed.

That's what he's after right here.

That's why he keeps talking about perishable and imperishable, mortal and immortal.

He's talking about when Christ returns in the clouds and we are raptured, the Bible is saying that you will undergo a massive change.

This is good news, is it not, everybody?

You say, well, Nickel, what does this change look like?

I appreciate your help in the sermon today.

Let me keep going.

This is what it says here in the Bible.

Verse 53.

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's 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.

If you're reading that and your eyes are beginning to cross a little bit, you're like, I don't understand.

That's normal.

Let me try to simplify it for you, okay?

The Bible is saying that your perishable body, your mortal body, the body you're wearing today, it must pass, it must put on the imperishable, immortal body, and then shall come to pass the greatest news for the believer that death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ.

You said, Well, how do I how do I put this on?

How do I put on the imperishable?

How do I put on the immortal?

It's only by getting into a relationship with Christ that this can be possible in your life.

And what you do now will matter then related to what we're talking about, okay?

Death will not win anymore, death will not sting anymore.

If you've got your sermon journal, write down these two Old Testament passages, Isaiah 25 and Hosea 13.

That is what Paul is referencing here.

He's alluding to those passages uh in verses 53 to 57.

All right.

Uh, death is our ultimate foe.

I don't know if you've realized that lately.

Uh, here's the hard thing about perishable people like me and you.

Perishable people forget that we will all perish.

One out of every one person dies.

I don't know if you've noticed that.

Perishable people perish.

And some of you are uh experiencing that in a new and a fresh way right now.

Somebody that you loved, a coworker at the office just passed, a friend that you loved, he or she passed, someone in your family has passed.

Maybe it's you.

You have been given a diagnosis, and you're like, Nick, they're telling me I got I've got a year to live, tops.

And so so you you you live with this this sting of death.

And it is the one thing in life that that all of us are don't think about, and then we're jolted back to reality and reminded that I cannot beat this thing.

At least in my perishableness, I don't know if that's a word, but you know what I'm saying, and my mortal-ness, like we cannot beat this, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We look at death when we look at the sting of death, and we say this together you have no victory with us.

For death, like, think about this.

For the believer, death is a promotion.

You ever been to a funeral or a memorial service?

And like the family's like joyful and hugging.

Now they're crying and it's sad, but like, man, they they they uh on the front row, like during the music or the hymn, like their hands are raised, their eyes are closed, and everybody always looks at the family, right?

And have you ever looked at a family like that and you thought, I mean, I just I just don't get it.

I mean, this is really sad.

Like, this is a real tragedy.

How do they find joy?

How do they find peace?

Why in the world would they raise their hands in worship?

You know why?

Um because it is the Christian's deep belief about death.

I I titled today, as I said, The Danger of Short-sightedness.

You know why I titled it that because it sounds better than a theological treatise on what the Christians should believe about death.

What is 1 Corinthians 15 really about?

It's about preparing you to die.

It's about preparing you to handle death of the people that you love, it's about seeing death through a different set of lenses.

The psalmist wrote this about how God views death.

Says this precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Anybody read that and go, I I don't I don't understand that one.

I've never been to a funeral that I thought, oh, how precious.

Never never done uh a death notice or gone to the hospital after somebody's just died and thought, well man, what a what a precious experience that is.

He said, How in the world could God view the death of my loved one as a precious thing because they knew Jesus?

Why is that?

Because God knows what they're about to enter into, God knows the change that they have just undergone from perishable to imperishable, from from mortal to immortality.

Um listen to me.

If you don't get anything else today, I want you to get this, okay?

When you get to heaven, you will not miss earth.

When you get to heaven, you will not miss earth.

So when you get there, you will not miss here.

We often are so sad and think, well, man, he didn't get to do this, she didn't get to see this, and they didn't get to do, and they didn't get to, and and I, you know, I just I think we need to think about it differently.

Like the Bible's not at all like fully clear what people in heaven, Christians who are in heaven, can see on earth.

Like we know the Bible says that when somebody repents and gets saved, there's a party in heaven.

So I don't know if they're like looking through like a certain glass.

You got to be like a specific place in heaven where you can like look over, like, oh, cross church today.

Somebody just got saved.

All right, pop the music, bum, a bunk, a bunk, like I don't know if it's like that or if it's like a light on the wall that turns red, and it's like, oh, another salvation.

Let's go.

So we know they at least have some knowledge of earth.

And so let's just assume, and this is again, I don't have Bible and verse for this.

I'm just saying, like, let's just imagine for a second that they can see down to us.

You know what people in heaven are not saying?

Gosh, I wish I could have been at that hog game last night.

Oh man, beat Vandy.

What a game! Go hogs.

Woo! Man, I can't believe I'm gonna miss another Thanksgiving.

I can't believe I'm gonna miss grandma's mashed potatoes again.

They're not saying that.

They're not saying that.

Again, let's assume for a second that they can see at least some.

I I again, I don't, I don't know.

If anything, they are looking down at us saying you think what you are living is the thing, you have no idea.

That is not the thing, this is the thing, and you have no idea what God has prepared for those that love him.

That is the message of 1 Corinthians 15.

And so, so um, if you're facing death recently, like of a beloved one, I would encourage you to think differently about it.

Okay?

Now the Bible says in that first Thessalonians passage, Paul says, We don't grieve like those who don't have hope.

It's not saying don't grieve.

So is death sad?

Yes or no?

Yes.

Should we grieve?

Yes or no?

I think it's weird if you don't grieve.

Okay.

The Bible, everybody look at me.

The Bible is just saying we look at death through different lenses.

We look at it like there's a real heaven, we look at it as if we're all perishing and we need God to make us imperishable.

Okay?

Look at look at verse 58.

This is where the passage wraps up.

He says, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be three three words, steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Um you ever been in church and somebody's taught you before, what do you do?

And you read the word therefore, you're supposed to ask the word, what's it?

Okay, not as many of you.

Okay, when you read the Bible and you see the word therefore, you're supposed to ask, what's it therefore?

A different way to say that is whenever you read the word therefore in the Bible, just look up.

Not like up, but like look up, look up in the passage what was just said.

And so here's what Paul's saying.

Based on everything that I've just said, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the word of the Lord.

So here's what it means.

Uh, therefore, because when Jesus returns, we will all be changed in a moment.

And because death has no hold on the believer's life and it has no sting anymore because of what God has prepared for us in heaven, and because of that, do this and be this.

So what is what is God calling us to be?

Those three words.

Steadfast speaks of spiritual firmness or being unwavering.

In other words, we're not tossed to and fro by the waves of the culture.

We're steadfast.

We're immovable, unshaken and steady.

Um, what what what could it be like if Northwest Arkansas looked at Crosschurch and the people of Crosschurch of like, man, there's an unshaken group of people there.

They don't they don't move as the culture moves.

They're not freaking out, we're just immovable.

And then the passage says always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Let me let me say it to you in a short way.

How about just the word fruitful?

Fruitful.

In other words, we're giving our lives to eternal things that matter.

Uh, we we are always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Now, that's what God is calling us to be.

The danger is we're We're often short-sighted.

Can I end with that?

Here's the danger of short-sightedness, and it's the it's the opposite of those three.

Because of our desire to fit into a world in which we do not belong, because we care what people think about us, because we're worried about our jobs, or we're worried about our friends, or we're worried about how our family views us.

Instead of those three things, we often are this.

We're squishy.

That's a Greek word somewhere in the Bible, I'm sure.

Is that what do you mean by squishy?

We we bend on doctrine and what God's word says because it's not palatable to the modern day culture we live in.

Um I call it squishy because it's like churches who don't say it clearly.

Christians who don't say it clearly.

It's like trying to nail jello to a wall.

You don't really know what we believe.

Um how about this?

We get shaky, not spiritually firm, but instead we go up and down with the waves of today.

So if life's good, we're good.

Life's bad, we're bad.

Instead of just like, man, we're we're unshaken, we're immovable.

How about a third thing?

Not fruitfulness, but just stagnant.

No spiritual growth, no sense of abounding in the work of the Lord.

We're just distracted with the things of this world.

We are just dominated in our time by things that don't matter.

Our money is spent on frivolous things that will not count for eternity.

Our families are focused on things that don't matter a hill of beans for the sake of eternity.

I want to just share my heart with you as I wrap up, okay?

Um as your pastor, like there's something that happens in my soul that I can't I can't fully uh express to you.

Like I am, I am burdened all the time for you.

One of the Bible words for the word pastor is the word shepherd.

And I I think you want a shepherd that cares about you, and I deeply care about you, and I worry for you, and I'm fearful for you, and I I, you know I'm constantly thinking of man, I don't think their life is built on eternity.

I don't I don't think they're number one, I don't think I don't think everybody in our church is saved.

You may be here every Sunday.

I don't think every Christian in our church by any means is living a life fixed on eternity.

And I and I just am beyond burden for that.

I I have two pairs of glasses.

I have a brown pair and I have a black pair.

And if you were to stop me at any time, I also have probably in my pocket a glasses cloth.

Because if you have glasses always getting dirty, noise meet all get out.

So I am always carrying one of these.

I'm sitting in a meeting probably two weeks ago, ten days ago, and I am I'm just I'm leading the meeting, and I'm so I I've read some and now I'm talking and I I'm just rubbing the lenses, cleaning just a smudge off of it.

And my glasses snapped in two.

So super frustrating.

Uh so I I've ordered a replacement pair, my doctor has my lenses already.

And the problem was is that I I I still had to lead the meeting.

So I still had things that I needed to read, and so like I'm trying to put my glasses back on and like hold them.

But cameraman, can you just can you zoom in right here and just it was kind of like it was kind of like it was kind of like this, and then one of them like fell on the table and and you know, people are laughing in the meeting, and I just I I look like an idiot.

I do I look stupid?

Yes.

I look ridiculous right now.

And and I I think this is this is how many of you live your spiritual life.

Half in.

And then, oh golly, I gotta get back where I need to be.

And so you you come back to church, try to get focused, but life's a little out of whack.

And you got broken priorities, broken focus, consumed with the things of the world, not even bad, just not best.

And God's like, listen, I I want you, I want you to live for eternity.

And we kind of give him like like this.

And so I with everything that's in my heart today, like I am deeply burdened for your soul.

I'm deeply burdened for your life.

For some of you, you've never been saved.

It's been a church game you've played, you didn't understand it.

Today you're understanding it.

Today's a day to be saved.

For others of you, um, man, you've been saved a long time.

Decades, five years, six months, and you're still you're still fumbling around with broken focus, still stumbling around, not focused on eternity.

And and what is the call of our passage today?

To put on eternal lenses with your life.

Do you realize that that if you will do this, like if you focus on verses 50 through 57, like it, like if that's the focus of your life, you know what naturally happens or supernaturally happens?

Verse 58.

I'm steadfast, I'm immovable, I'm always abounding in the work of the Lord.

And when I'm focused on the things of this world, guess what?

I get squishy, I get stagnant, and I get whatever the other word was.

And so I I really just want to encourage you today to have eyes for eternity, to have lenses that you see, that you see death through.

Maybe you're here today and you're dealing with loss.

Man, I grieve for you.

You come see me in the lobby, I'll be the first to hug you.

Pray for you.

But for some of you, those people knew Jesus and they're in glory, and today's a day to see with different lenses.

They're not the ones missing out, we're the ones missing out.

For others of you, there's a deep conviction upon your life today of you're not where you need to be.

You see the broken glasses, and you're like, bro, that's me.

Like I am, I am not where I should be with the Lord.

Our family's not focused on the things of God, I'm not focused on things of God, our money is certainly not focused on things of God.

Like, I'm just not where I need to be with the Lord.

And there's like a conviction, I'm gonna invite you to come to the altar and just get on your face before the Lord.

You say, Well, what is what will all the people think about me?

I don't think you're ready then.

You know, when God does a genuine work in your heart and like you're ready to obey, you don't care who sees it, inside this room or outside this room.

Why do we ask you to come forward?

Because it exercises a muscle in here that you can use out there.

So I'm gonna invite you to come.

Others of you, it's not like a conviction over sin like you're doing something wrong, but it's more a conviction of like, I want, I want that for my life.

Like I want, I want as a woman of God to be defined by eternity.

I want as a man of God to be defined by eternity.

Like I am consumed with the things of God.

I'm consumed with matters of eternity.

And if that is you, I'm gonna invite you also to come to the altar and just say, Lord, let that be said of me.

Bring your open Bible, bring your journal.

Lord, I I want that to be here.

How cool would it be if whole families today came to the altar, like like moms and dads and kids like God, use our family for eternity.

Would you come?

I want you just to bow our head and close our eyes all over this room.

Our staff's gonna make their way to the front of each aisle.

If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ personally, I want to ask you, why not today?

If you're here today and you say, Nick, I'm not, I'm really not sure.

Like if Christ were to return today, I don't I don't know that I would be taken with God.

I really don't know.

I'm gonna encourage you, whichever one of those scenarios you're in, if you're ready to surrender your life to Christ, I'm gonna encourage you to come to one of these men or women, a part of our team down here at the front.

All you gotta say is this I need to give my life to Jesus.

And they'll lead you to faith in Christ.

They're all spread out all down here, even by the stairs at the balcony.

If you're ready to give your life to Jesus, would you come?

Maybe you're here and you got questions, Nick, I don't really know.

You know, I've been in church some and I'm not sure where I'm at.

Why don't you come and just discuss that with us?

Say, hey, can can you answer some questions?

Can we talk through this together?

We'd be honored to do that.

But maybe you're here today and you say, Nick, I'm a Christian already.

And uh, man, I'm convicted that I'm not where I need to be, or I'm just convicted of, man, this is who I want to be, this is where I want to be.

Man, I'm just gonna invite you to the altar, just have a moment with God, a moment of surrender in here before it becomes millions of moments of surrender out there in the world.

Would you come today?

Whatever God's doing in your heart, would you be obedient?

Lord, it's our desire that you would move people towards you.

Lord, that you would save some people, Lord, that you would move some Christians away from the things of this world and towards the things of God, whatever that looks like in their life, would you move us now?

It's in Christ's name that we pray.

Amen.

If you have questions about what you have heard or would like more information about your relationship with Jesus, please email us at info at crosschurch.com or visit our website at crosschurch.com.

At Crosschurch, our mission is to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ.