The Last Enemy
Commentary
In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 26, Paul declares that "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
It is all too common for the Christian to think of death only in terms of that event which lies in wait at the end of this life. The Bible understands death in a broader context. Not only is death the doorway out of this life, it is also a power that hovers over our lives and threatens to destroy meaning and take away joy.
So long as we focus Easter attention on the life-ending event alone, we limit the resurrection power to reversing that event. It is not enough. The New Testament sees the resurrection power as available during life as well as at its end.
Death, then, is whatever threatens life, whatever destroys purpose, robs us of the gifts God means us to have, prevents us from becoming what God intended, engenders hatreds and distrust between man and man, and estranges man from God. What else can Paul mean when he speaks of the sting of death in 15:55? The sting is ever present in life. The grave waits at the end. The point of Easter is not only the promise of the reawakening of the dead. Easter is the promise that the power of God is the power for life and is thus power over death. Easter means not only life after life, it also means life during life.
Those who avail themselves of the resurrection power through faith in Jesus, in whom that power was demonstrated both in his life and at his death, are truly and fully the Easter people.
OUTLINE I
A Whole Easter
Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 19-28; John 20:1-8; Mark 16:1-8
Introduction: Note how very often the good news of Easter is proclaimed in the absence of the bad news. Only when the bad news, for life and for eternity, are made vivid, does the good news take on the relevance it ought to have for the hearer.
Judgment: Whether thought to be self-imposed and deserved or God-imposed and deserved or undeserved, the point the pro-phet Isaiah makes is that when the judgment comes, one lives in a wasteland. Whether that wasteland is the wilderness of Exodus, the evil days of the Judges or the Kings, or the exile of Babylon, they are days in which life goes flat, joy is gone, and one wonders why life goes on. Assist the congregation to envision how this happens in their lives.
Sin: For Paul sin is more than some act, even more than a spiritual state. Paul's consciousness of sin is so vivid that he speaks of it as a power that brings one into bondage. (See Romans 7:9-25) This is a good place to give added meaning to the term "sin" and enable the congregation to take it as seriously as does the New Testament.
Death: Indeed all die. All go to the grave. The visions of death proposed by the poets of Israel speak of the haplessness of death in vivid and harsh terms (see) Death, without Easter, indeed offers a bleak outlook.
The Remedy: "But, in fact, Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that slept." - 1 Corinthians 15:20. The proclamation of Easter is the proclamation of the reversal of judgment (see Isaiah 40:1-5); the offer of the defeat of the power of sin and its bondage (1 Corinthians 15:57); and the promise that it breaks the power of death. (1 Corinthians 15:26) Offer all this to your congregation as the fullest meaning of Easter.
OUTLINE II
A Need for Angels
John 20:1-8; Mark 16:1-8
Introduction: Review the story for the congregation. Then move to a contemporary interpretation by suggesting that all too often the Christ of Easter remains in the tomb and is not let out into the world. Stones still prevent the good news from being shared. You can make your own list of stones relevant to your congregation. Try these:
Unbelief: There are those who hear the story as if they were disinterested bystanders. It does not relate to them, they think, and thus they have nothing to share with others.
Self-interest: There are those who do not want the message to be shared. Like Herod at his birth, or the temple officials upon hearing of the resurrection, too much is at stake, too much can be lost. Refer to John 3:16-21. Note that too many of us never get past John 3:16.
Ignorance: There are those who have never heard the story. He may as well still be shut in the tomb. In Romans 10:13-15 Paul asks the right questions. Now add your own twentieth century stones.
Conclusion: Remind the congregation that they, too, can be the angels that roll away the stones and let the message be told again in our day. After all, the word "angel" is the middle word in ev-angel-ist. Many like to be called evangelists; they just don't think of themselves as angels.
OUTLINE III
The Creed That Says It All
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Introduction: Call to the attention of the hearers that these early verses probably set out one of the earliest creeds of the church. It was the message for the fifth decade of that first century. Too many of us assume that the gospel stories were written first and that then Paul wrote down the meaning or theology. In truth it was the reverse. First the meaning and then the story was put down. Little wonder their messages match. The meaning had already been agreed upon.
The Bad News: "Christ died for our sins ... was buried." Like the Apostles' Creed which will be written much later this creed faces the facts, accepts things as they are. Jesus is dead. Tell the gospel stories again and show how they make Paul's words come to life.
The Good News: He rose again on the third day. Recall the gospel scenes that give this message flesh and blood. Congregations never tire of hearing good news again and again. It seems that the story takes on new meaning each time we hear it because we are different and the circumstances of our lives are different. Recall the song, "I love to Tell the Story." In one of the lines there are the words "which seems each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet."
The Affirmation: The appearances give it all certainty. It was great that he appeared to Peter and the twelve; even greater that he appeared to the 500 who still bore witness. But for Paul the Damascus road experience made it all real. This is the proper place to assist the congregation as each person seeks to come to know the risen Christ in their own lives.
Conclusion: Too many imagine that such appearances happened only long ago. Assist them to be aware of the kinds of experiences in which he still comes to us. Try Tolstoy's story, Where Love Is, There God Is Also, for instance. Use personal references. Show how he is with us as he promised, in shared fellowship, at his table, in judgment, in grace. He speaks as really now as he did then. We fail to be as vivid in our story-telling.
It is all too common for the Christian to think of death only in terms of that event which lies in wait at the end of this life. The Bible understands death in a broader context. Not only is death the doorway out of this life, it is also a power that hovers over our lives and threatens to destroy meaning and take away joy.
So long as we focus Easter attention on the life-ending event alone, we limit the resurrection power to reversing that event. It is not enough. The New Testament sees the resurrection power as available during life as well as at its end.
Death, then, is whatever threatens life, whatever destroys purpose, robs us of the gifts God means us to have, prevents us from becoming what God intended, engenders hatreds and distrust between man and man, and estranges man from God. What else can Paul mean when he speaks of the sting of death in 15:55? The sting is ever present in life. The grave waits at the end. The point of Easter is not only the promise of the reawakening of the dead. Easter is the promise that the power of God is the power for life and is thus power over death. Easter means not only life after life, it also means life during life.
Those who avail themselves of the resurrection power through faith in Jesus, in whom that power was demonstrated both in his life and at his death, are truly and fully the Easter people.
OUTLINE I
A Whole Easter
Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 19-28; John 20:1-8; Mark 16:1-8
Introduction: Note how very often the good news of Easter is proclaimed in the absence of the bad news. Only when the bad news, for life and for eternity, are made vivid, does the good news take on the relevance it ought to have for the hearer.
Judgment: Whether thought to be self-imposed and deserved or God-imposed and deserved or undeserved, the point the pro-phet Isaiah makes is that when the judgment comes, one lives in a wasteland. Whether that wasteland is the wilderness of Exodus, the evil days of the Judges or the Kings, or the exile of Babylon, they are days in which life goes flat, joy is gone, and one wonders why life goes on. Assist the congregation to envision how this happens in their lives.
Sin: For Paul sin is more than some act, even more than a spiritual state. Paul's consciousness of sin is so vivid that he speaks of it as a power that brings one into bondage. (See Romans 7:9-25) This is a good place to give added meaning to the term "sin" and enable the congregation to take it as seriously as does the New Testament.
Death: Indeed all die. All go to the grave. The visions of death proposed by the poets of Israel speak of the haplessness of death in vivid and harsh terms (see) Death, without Easter, indeed offers a bleak outlook.
The Remedy: "But, in fact, Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that slept." - 1 Corinthians 15:20. The proclamation of Easter is the proclamation of the reversal of judgment (see Isaiah 40:1-5); the offer of the defeat of the power of sin and its bondage (1 Corinthians 15:57); and the promise that it breaks the power of death. (1 Corinthians 15:26) Offer all this to your congregation as the fullest meaning of Easter.
OUTLINE II
A Need for Angels
John 20:1-8; Mark 16:1-8
Introduction: Review the story for the congregation. Then move to a contemporary interpretation by suggesting that all too often the Christ of Easter remains in the tomb and is not let out into the world. Stones still prevent the good news from being shared. You can make your own list of stones relevant to your congregation. Try these:
Unbelief: There are those who hear the story as if they were disinterested bystanders. It does not relate to them, they think, and thus they have nothing to share with others.
Self-interest: There are those who do not want the message to be shared. Like Herod at his birth, or the temple officials upon hearing of the resurrection, too much is at stake, too much can be lost. Refer to John 3:16-21. Note that too many of us never get past John 3:16.
Ignorance: There are those who have never heard the story. He may as well still be shut in the tomb. In Romans 10:13-15 Paul asks the right questions. Now add your own twentieth century stones.
Conclusion: Remind the congregation that they, too, can be the angels that roll away the stones and let the message be told again in our day. After all, the word "angel" is the middle word in ev-angel-ist. Many like to be called evangelists; they just don't think of themselves as angels.
OUTLINE III
The Creed That Says It All
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Introduction: Call to the attention of the hearers that these early verses probably set out one of the earliest creeds of the church. It was the message for the fifth decade of that first century. Too many of us assume that the gospel stories were written first and that then Paul wrote down the meaning or theology. In truth it was the reverse. First the meaning and then the story was put down. Little wonder their messages match. The meaning had already been agreed upon.
The Bad News: "Christ died for our sins ... was buried." Like the Apostles' Creed which will be written much later this creed faces the facts, accepts things as they are. Jesus is dead. Tell the gospel stories again and show how they make Paul's words come to life.
The Good News: He rose again on the third day. Recall the gospel scenes that give this message flesh and blood. Congregations never tire of hearing good news again and again. It seems that the story takes on new meaning each time we hear it because we are different and the circumstances of our lives are different. Recall the song, "I love to Tell the Story." In one of the lines there are the words "which seems each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet."
The Affirmation: The appearances give it all certainty. It was great that he appeared to Peter and the twelve; even greater that he appeared to the 500 who still bore witness. But for Paul the Damascus road experience made it all real. This is the proper place to assist the congregation as each person seeks to come to know the risen Christ in their own lives.
Conclusion: Too many imagine that such appearances happened only long ago. Assist them to be aware of the kinds of experiences in which he still comes to us. Try Tolstoy's story, Where Love Is, There God Is Also, for instance. Use personal references. Show how he is with us as he promised, in shared fellowship, at his table, in judgment, in grace. He speaks as really now as he did then. We fail to be as vivid in our story-telling.
