1 Corinthians 16:19-24

"The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."

After sending greetings to the Corinthians from various believers, Paul returns to the subject of love to close the book. He already spent the better part of a chapter teaching us what love looks like and helping us realize love's importance. But in these closing verses, Paul uses even stronger language than he did earlier in the book.

He says, "if anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed." In other words, love God or be damned. That's unsettling! How can we be given such an ultimatum? Well, I don't think it is an ultimatum. I think its a warning that if you don't love Him, you are not His.

When you come to understand how God revels Himself in the Bible, you must either love Him or hate Him. Those who love Him, love Him because they are His. And troubling statements will not cause them to stumble though they must wrestle through them at times. Those who have no love for him will simply reject Him and go into eternity as His enemy.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

"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 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."

Death marches relentlessly forward upon the human race. We can evade it temporarily, but at the time appointed, this life will end for all of us. And for those without confidence about what lies ahead, death has a terrible sting. It strikes wide, deep, and long. Death conquers and conquers and conquers still. But it's victory is not universal.

Those who know Christ as their savior will experience no sting in death. For them "death is swallowed up in victory." They have nothing to fear: sin (the sting of death) has been paid for by Christ's death and the law (the deadly force of sin) has been satisfied by Christ's obedience in life. While it is true that some who are trusting in Christ still fear the unknowns of death, Christians can at least be certain that since Jesus was not defeated in death, we will not be either. Don't fear what you don't know. Rejoice in what is certain.

1 Corinthians 15:45

"Thus it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit."

If you slow down and really attempt to understand this verse, it is mind blowing! God created Adam. He breathed into him the breath of life. And Adam became a living soul. Some time later, God (in the person of Jesus) took on flesh, the very thing that He Himself had breathed life into so long ago. His motivation for doing this was to give life to those who had squandered it. And the giving of life would come at a high cost. Through His death, Jesus gives life.

I am like the first Adam, a living soul. God has given me life, and I have often turned away from Him in sin. But I will be like the second Adam. Jesus has already given me spiritual life and will complete it in His time by also giving me a spiritual body. “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (44b).

1 Corinthians 15:29-34

"Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame."

Without the resurrection, what is the point? If the dead will not live again, then why bother giving attention to what comes after death. Without the resurrection, Christian sacrifice is ridiculous. If this life is all there is then, unmediated hedonism is the best there is to live for.

Although fulfilling selfish pleasures is the best that many people have, the passionate pursuit of satisfaction in earthly pleasures always leaves the pursuer empty. What's more it has a degenerative effect. Seeking joy and not finding it, the hedonist goes ever further away from God, thinking that there will be true pleasure in his next gratification, but all the time he is going ever further from the only source of true satisfaction.

How then should I live? I should provide avoid sin, providing an example of a joy-filled life without sinful self-gratification. I should live in the knowledge that Christ has been raised from the dead and the knowledge that I will follow Him in this. Knowing my end, I should display it for others to see.

1 Corinthians 15:24-26

"Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

Death has been called many things: a predator, a friend, a relief, a mercy, a fearful unknown, the great equalizer. Here, the Bible calls death an enemy. Death was not part of God’s original design for humanity. It was the consequence that God warned would come if Adam disobeyed. Sin put man at odds with God, and death is part of the terrible baggage that comes with enmity with God.

Thankfully, the one man, Jesus has already broken the power of death, bringing spiritual life to those who trust in Him. But people still die, and many do so without even knowing the spiritual life that they could have had in Christ. There will, however, be a time when death is destroyed. After Jesus crushes all other rebellion, He will permanently the last remnant of disobedience—death.

I would get what I deserved if I got death. But Christ died so that I would not have to die, and now I will never know spiritual death. If it was my sin an disobedience that took Jesus to the cross and if sin and the accompanying death puts me in opposition to God, how can I continue to sin.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ."

One man made one choice, to disobey God. Pridefully, Adam chose to elevate Himself to the position of judge of good and evil even though the consequences for doing so had already been explained to him, Adam decided that it was alright for him to do what God told him never to do. Because of Adam’s sinful choice, all men are spiritually dead, and we will all die physically. Why should we suffer for Adam’s decision? Adam was our federal head. We were in Adam, and when he sinned, we sinned.

But there is another man—Jesus Christ. And through him came not death but resurrection from the dead. Adam’s choice to disobey God is daily killing us all. Jesus’ choice to be obedient unto death is daily giving life. He gives us spiritual life, and will upon His return grant an unending, non-decaying, incorruptible physical life.

This new life is previewed by the One who is already living it. Jesus is the first to be raised unto this kind of life. And at His second coming, all those who are His will be physically raised unto this new life that He lives already.

How then shall I live? I should recognize the devastating and far reaching consequences of my sins. Sin is a merciless killer! My sin effects more people than I can imagine and for a longer time than I can imagine. Knowing this, I must flee from sin. Instead, I must choose life. I choose to come to Him who is life, who will ever-live, and who will grant that His own live with Him.

1 Corinthians 7:39-40

"A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God."

One family member of ours has the words "until death" engraved on the inside of his wedding band. Laurel and I have joked about this repeatedly saying things like "until you die" and other heart-warming affirmations. But "until death" is what we all pledge when we get married. We are bound, and nothing should break that bond (except death).

I suppose that some people might look at such an arrangement and believe it to be to restrictive. It's true that before you enter the marriage, you should carefully consider the life-long commitment that you are making with seriousness, care, and sobriety. But after you are married, you should treat this bond with a joyful sense of security. It should never be used to take your spouse for granted but should give great confidence in your relationship with you spouse.

If your partner dies, you are free to remarry without any sense of guilt, abandonment, or betrayal. Upon death, you are no longer bound to your former mate. You may marry whoever you wish (provided it's in the Lord).

Again we are told (I think for the last time) that it would be better for such a person (widow or widower) to remain single. Actually it says that the newly widowed will be "happier" if they do not remarry. In some cases and in some places this may be true even today, but it was especially so during the aforementioned persecution.

1 Peter 1:24

"For 'All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.' And this word is the good news that was preached to you."

What is the good news? That my life is short? That I will decay, grow old, and die? That doesn't sound very good. But that is the natural course of all mankind. Our being compared to grass might be perceived as demeaning. I never ran through an uncut field to look at the long blades of grass, brown an bend with time, dieing and on their way to becoming compost. I never considered it because it just happens. It's not significant. It's just the way it is. All flesh is like that. In all our glory, all our riches and extravagance, we are perishing. Doctors valiantly work to improve and to prolong our lives, but they eventually yield to man's mortality. Our flesh will ultimately come to the end of it's time.

But there is something that "remains forever." The word of God does not parish. How is this good news? We die; God's word remains. How does that translate into good? It's good because there is something beyond the perishable. And that which will not perish (God's word) speaks of something of us that will not parish. My flesh may rot and be food for worms, but I will live on. I will live on because God's word is sure, and the promises in the word that I've embraced will not fail.