Why Bother? 1 Corinthians 15:29-34

[embed]https://youtu.be/oCdjRIwFZOc[/embed]Today we are going back to our study of 1 Corinthians 15 and our study of the resurrection. Right in the middle of the verses we will study, Paul writes, “If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” If there is no resurrection, if this life is all there is, then live it up because nothing we do in this life really matters anyway and we have nothing to look forward to other than death. If the finality of death is all there is that lies before us, then we have to ask, “Does anything really matter? Why bother putting forth the effort if, when we die, we are simply dead and soon to be forgotten?” It’s a tragic thought and yet many today hold this belief. The late Dr. William Provine was a professor of evolutionary biology and population genetics at Cornell University and a sought after speaker for many years until his death in 2015. In a debate with Phillip Johnson on Darwinism and Intelligent Design, at Stanford University, Dr. Provine said, 

Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear…There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either…No inherent moral or ethical laws exist, nor are there any absolute guiding principles for human society. The universe cares nothing for us and we have no ultimate meaning in life (Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy, April 30, 1994).

No meaning in life. No purpose to life. No life after death. No guiding principles for people. Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, but why bother if this life is all there is? Why bother if there are no guiding principles, no moral or ethical reasons to love others if it will cost me what I want in life? Why bother? Another person you would think we could go to for answers to the big questions of life would be Dr. Richard Dawkins. Afterall, he has a Ph.D. and taught at both the University of California, Berkeley and Oxford University. Dr. Dawkins is one of the most well-known atheists in the world and has written several books set on totally dismantling any belief in God and every Christian idea. In the preface to his book, Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder, he writes,

A foreign publisher of my first book confessed that he could not sleep for three nights after reading it, so troubled was he by what he saw as its cold, bleak message. Others have asked me how I can bear to get up in the mornings. A teacher from a distant country wrote to me reproachfully that a pupil had come to him in tears after reading the same book, because it had persuaded her that life was empty and purposeless. He advised her not to show the book to any of her friends, for fear of contaminating them with the same nihilistic pessimism. (Dawkins, Richard, Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder, preface)

What we have to remember is this: These are not some tabloid headline writers trying to grab clicks on social media. These are highly educated men who both have IQ’s in the genius range. They are authorities who have based their ideas in science, and we all know that in our day, in our society, science is the ultimate authority. No wonder the young student was brought to tears of desperation when she learned that life was empty and purposeless. After listening to Dr. Provine and Dr. Dawkins wouldn’t we also come to the conclusion…Why bother? I want us to know that this is certainly one idea about life, meaning, purpose, and the Universe, but it’s not the only idea. Let’s read our Scripture for this morning and see what we can learn. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:29-34 and let’s read together.

29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day-- yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God-- I say this to your shame. (1 Corinthians 15:29-34 NIV)

Bible teachers tell us that verse 29, “...what will those do who are baptized for the dead?” is the most difficult verse in all of Paul’s letters. Anthony Thiselton says there are no fewer than 40 interpretations of this one verse. I don’t want to take up our time going through the variety of interpretations, but I do want to share with you two things I’ve learned this week about this verse. First, Paul’s entire focus during this chapter, which is about Jesus’ resurrection and the future resurrection of all of those who place their faith in Him, has been to show the people of Corinth that Jesus’ resurrection is the keystone of the Christian faith. The entire story of Jesus, minus the resurrection is a totally different story. Remove that one piece and it all falls apart. Jesus, rather than being a living, reigning Savior, is really just another martyr who came and went. Jesus minus the resurrection also changes our own stories. Do you remember what Paul shared earlier in this chapter? Let me highlight some of what he has taught us: If Christ has not been raised…

• Preaching is useless and so is your faith. (vs. 14)
• You are still in your sins. (17)
• Those who have died are simply lost. (18)
• We are to be the most pitied of all people. (19)

For you and me, those of us who follow Jesus, His resurrection has implications for the past, for the present life that we are living, and most definitely for our future. The second thing I’ve learned from studying verse 29, about the baptism for the dead, is that Paul is not condoning “vicarious baptism,” if that is actually what was taking place. Nowhere in Scripture do you find vicarious baptism at all, yet the Mormon church practices vicarious baptism today. I visited the Mormon beliefs website this week and this is what I learned. 

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are taught and believe that baptism is essential for salvation in the Kingdom of God, and thus the sacred ordinance of baptisms for their kindred dead are performed in sacred Mormon Temples throughout the world to give those who have died without ever having had the opportunity to receive baptism, or who were baptized but without proper authority, the opportunity to receive it by proxy if that is their desire. (mormonbeliefs.org)

The idea that “baptism is essential for salvation in the Kingdom of God” is nowhere found in Scripture. It may be found in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or The Pearl of Great Price–those are books the Mormons use alongside of the Bible, but therein lies the problem. We understand Scripture to be the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible and the 27 books of the New Testament. In none of those books are we taught that we are saved by baptism, or that anyone who has died can be saved by someone else’s baptism. We are saved by grace through faith, just as Paul tells us Ephesians 2:8-9.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)

Does that mean that baptism is a “take-it-or-leave-it” aspect of the Christian life? Not all, in baptism we experience a foretaste of the resurrection. We are buried with Christ beneath the water in baptism, our old life is over and done, and we are raised to a new life in Christ. Remember, many of the people in Corinth struggled with the whole idea of resurrection, yet they had some practice going on, whether it was vicarious baptisms or being baptized because they wanted to meet up once again with a loved one who was a believer and had died. Paul challenged them. “If there’s no resurrection of the dead then why would you do such a thing?”  Let’s move on. Let’s read verses 30-31 once again. 

30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day-- yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:30-31 NIV)

In verses 30-32, Paul uses his own life to show how the assurance of the resurrection motivates him to do the things he has done. The point Paul is trying to get across to the people of Corinth is, “Why would I subject myself to all of this hardship if death, and not the resurrection, was the only thing I had to look forward to in life?” But Paul does subject himself to whatever trials may come, persecution of every kind, and even the prospect of death because of his absolute conviction that life, resurrection life, and not death is awaiting all of those who will trust in Jesus. He is willing even to give up his life, if that is what it costs, for him to carry that message to as many people as he can, for as long as he can. In verse 30, Paul said, “...why do we endanger ourselves every hour?” In the opening sentence of verse 31, he wrote, “I face death every day…” Earlier in our study of 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 4:11-13, Paul wrote,

11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world-- right up to this moment. (1 Corinthians 4:11-13 NIV)

Before Paul became a follower of Jesus he was highly esteemed. He had a resume that was the envy of all of the young Jewish men. He was a blue-blood, from the tribe of Benjamin. He got into the finest school, trained by the distinguished Hebrew scholar Gamaliel. He scored highest on all of the standardized tests, his righteousness based on the law, was “faultless” (Philippians 3:5-6). Yet, he said he counted all of that as garbage in comparison to knowing Jesus. What he had found in Jesus was too good to keep to himself, Paul wanted others to know Jesus as well. So, he suffered the consequences of his decision to travel the known world and share the hope found in the resurrection. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, Paul gave the Corinthians a taste of some of the trials he had endured. Read along with me beginning in verse 24. 

24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NIV)

I want us to notice something in verse 31 that seems out of place, a little awkward at first glance, but in actuality it is so important for us to understand. Paul writes,

31 I face death every day-- yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:31 NIV)

The certainty of the trials that Paul would face ran parallel with the confidence of what God was accomplishing through Paul’s life. Paul was not boasting in his work, but in what God was accomplishing through him in his work with those in Corinth. In Acts 18, we read that from the moment Paul arrived in Corinth he was met with opposition. We read in verse 6, “they opposed Paul and became abusive…”  Then, in verse 12, we read, “...the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.” Yet, Paul endured it all, he continued to share the Good News of Jesus, and now, as he wrote his letter to the brothers and sisters in Corinth, he reminisced about what the Lord had done. Was it worth it Paul? Why bother if the end is nothing more than the end? But it is not! God brings fruit out of our trials, He uses our faithfulness to stand firm in the face of persecution, and lives are changed by the Good News that is found in Jesus! The church in Corinth was a mess, we’ve seen that so clearly, but God was at work in their mess and Paul relished the opportunity the Lord had provided for him to work with them.Let me tell you, what we do for the Lord in sharing with others, serving others, discipling others, and encouraging others will long outlive us. People are difficult? Of course we are, but keep loving us anyway. Some people don’t want to hear about Jesus? Of course they don’t, but don’t walk away from them, keep showing them His love and mercy anyway. People make dumb decisions and make a mess out of their lives? Yes, that’s going to happen. It has always happened, but don’t give up believing that God can restore and redeem that which is broken and seemingly hopeless. Let’s move on to verse 32 where Paul says he fought with wild beasts in Ephesus. Read the verse with me. 

32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (1 Corinthians 15:32 NIV)

Paul was a Roman citizen so it’s unlikely that he would have been thrown into the arena to fight with wild beasts. Chuck Swindoll writes,

…as a Roman citizen, Paul wouldn’t have been thrown into the arena to fight with beasts, since this practice was reserved mainly for heathens, savages, or slaves. Under Roman law, noncitizens like Jesus or Peter could be executed publicly as a spectacle and even for ‘entertainment’ purposes. Citizens of Rome, however, were granted a private, more dignified execution by beheading outside the city, which was Paul’s fate. (Swindoll, Charles. Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary: 1 & 2 Corinthians. pg. 239)

Instead of literal wild beasts, Paul probably has in mind people who were violently opposing him. The imagery of people as wild beasts was a common metaphor in biblical times. In Daniel 7, Daniel uses four beasts to describe four pagan rulers. Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus. In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul let them know that he wants to return to Corinth to visit them. Then he writes,

8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. (1 Corinthians 16:8-9 NIV)

There were many who were opposing Paul everywhere he went and if he would have had to deal with them with nothing more than human hopes, simply crossing his fingers and hoping for the best, then it would have been a waste of time. David Garland writes,

Paul does everything in expectation of the future resurrection. If there is no resurrection of the dead, why not eat, drink, and be merry, since life is so short? Why fight with beasts? Why not join those who try to drown out death’s relentless knell with ceaseless reveling? (Garland, David. First Corinthians. pg. 720).

If the dead are not raised, if there is no resurrection hope for you and me, then “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” David Garland says, “Resurrection means endless hope, but no resurrection means a hopeless end.” When Paul writes, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” he is quoting from Isaiah 22:13. Let me set the scene for you. The city of Jerusalem was about to be destroyed by the Assyrians. Instead of turning to the Lord, repenting of their sins, and crying out to God for help, God’s people partied like there was no tomorrow. Isaiah writes,

12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. 13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!" (Isaiah 22:12-13 NIV)

When people lose hope their lives tend to begin to unravel. I’ve seen it over and over again. Victor Frankl, who spent three years in four different concentration camps, later wrote a classic called Man’s Search For Meaning. He writes,

When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure. (Victor Frankl)

If we lose a sense of meaning and purpose then life grows dark and gloomy. Our minds can become dark dungeons that bombard us with messages of hopelessness. If we lose a sense of meaning and purpose then, for many people, the only solution is to try and escape, to do something to try and forget. Steven Taylor, in Psychology Today writes,

The need for purpose is one the defining characteristics of human beings. Human beings crave purpose and suffer serious psychological difficulties when we don’t have it. Purpose is a fundamental component of a fulfilling life. (Psychology Today. The Power of Purpose.)

If none of this matters then why bother? Why not party like there is no tomorrow if this is all there is? But it isn’t! This life matters. What we do now matters. Why does it matter? It matters because you and I have been sought out by the King of Glory. He has entered our world, our space, and freed us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into His glorious light so we can see the purpose for which He has created us, the meaning He has given to every aspect of our lives, and the hope of the resurrection that awaits those who will trust in Him. Before we leave here this morning I want us to focus on the counsel Paul gives to the people in Corinth, found in verses 33-34. Read it with me.

33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God-- I say this to your shame. (1 Corinthians 15:33-34 NIV)

When I was a kid my mother had a favorite saying that she would often say to me when she thought I was hanging out with bad characters who would have a negative influence on me. Mom would say, “Birds of a feather flock together.” What she didn’t know was that my friend’s mothers were no doubt telling them the same thing about me. We don’t want our kids to be around negative influences, but how much thought do we give to the negative influences we allow into our lives? I don’t want anyone to leave here this morning thinking that I’m suggesting we form some kind of Christian cult where we only spend time with the most righteous people in our city. That’s not what Paul is teaching at all. Do you remember what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11?

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. (1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NIV)

If we are to shun anyone it would be people who claim to be followers of Jesus, but live life as if they have no regard for Jesus whatsoever. Those believers who live lives as a mirror image of those of the world. Instead of shunning the people of the world, Paul has something else in mind. The Greek word for “company” that means “clique, a group, or a gang to which people belong.  We should always be mindful of the intimate company we keep and the influence they have on our lives. The specific context of this verse is that there are people in Corinth who do not believe in the resurrection. Paul says, “Be careful!” We are called to be Jesus’ ambassadors and to share His message with all people, but it is so important that we have extended fellowship, intimate fellowship, with other believers who will build us up and whom we can build up in the faith. I meet with a group of men every Wednesday morning. The focus of our time together is studying God’s Word together, but I hear, on a regular basis, how edified, how built up they are from being with one another. They are encouraged to passionately seek the Lord with all of their hearts. We are hungry to grow and to grow together. How about you? Is that your desire this morning? We are bombarded by messaging that is contrary to what God’s Word teaches all throughout the week, but we come together to learn what God has to say, not what our society or our friends say. Back to the question before we go…Why bother? Why bother? I’ll continue to give myself to the cause of Christ because there are so many others who still need to hear. I’ll continue to give myself to the cause of Christ because I know He is coming for me one day and on that day I want Him to find me faithful! And I will continue to give myself to the cause of Christ because I have resurrection hope. This life is not all there is my friends. I will, and you who trust Him will, spend all of eternity in His glorious presence! Mike Hays