I always loved this line from an old Streetangel song:
"For years and years our father's taught,
'That death was a friend of God,'
but death is God's enemy
the last to be downtrod."
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is addressing some concerns about death and the resurrection of the dead. It is here that he states that,
"If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
We are fools and idiots if the resurrection is not true. And our faith would be futile, for we'd still be in our sins. This makes me think that sin and "being in our sin" is a central key to the Gospel. (like the "bad news" that's shared before the "Good News") There have been times when I've shared or preached the Gospel and felt the need to convince people that they had a problem (sin). This might be true in our culture, but it's also probably true that we don't need to point out to anyone that they're a sinner. Our hearts condemn us to that fact. There are surely people that will be misled and think that they are perfect or that will argue any point, but stating the obvious -- that we are "in sin" -- is probably done best in passing without going into great detail as to why, or proving that point.
If the resurrection of Christ were not true, all those apostles would then be false witnesses, for they saw Him raised from the dead and they told everyone about it. I think one of the reasons Paul said they'd be "most pitied among men" is that they suffered so much hardship in the Name and cause of Christ. If the hope of the resurrection were not there, all that hardship would be futile. But it is because the hope of the resurrection is real that we endure hardship.
One of the wonderful byproducts of suffering is how we can later comfort someone else that's going through the same suffering.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
I tell ya, no one can comfort a mother who's lost a baby more than another mother who's been through the same thing. No one can comfort someone with a broken heart like someone who's had a broken heart. People listen to pain. It's a common thing for each of us. Even just knowing that is a comforting thing.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at January 9, 2006 09:52 AM