The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 30 - April 30

Day 30

Sow

1 Corinthians 15:36 (NIV)

How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

The Bible defines a fool as someone who fails to take God into account, excluding God from consideration.  Paul uses an example from nature to illustrate his point.  If you've ever attempted to grow something from a seed you have noticed 1) the original seed dies to be able to produce its fruit, and 2) the final product, fruit, looks nothing like the original seed.  Again the Corinthians would be very aware of this both in a practical, as well as spiritual, way.  They were agrarian and grew their own food.  Many of them were probably farmers or had vineyards.  And religious feasts to bless and dedicate harvests were a part of their Jewish heritage as we've learned with the Waving of the Firstfruit and as we anticipate the Feast of the Harvest (Pentecost).  So likewise, as we are buried in the ground, our bodies will not look like the ones we have now.   

Activity:  Go outside and look around.  Look at the finished product of something that has been planted and discover what its seed looked like.  Start a simple garden -- even if it's an herb garden in your kitchen window.  Watch God's miracle of life as it grows from a seed to life.

The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 29 - April 29

Day 29

Body

1 Corinthians 15:35 (NIV)

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”

This section of 1 Corinthians 15 is subtitled "The Resurrection Body."  There are two realities that we will hear about.  First, the bodily resurrection is familiar and unique.  And second, the bodily resurrection is new and improved.  Paul realizes that the Corinthians will have questions like, "How will God resurrect our bodies and what does a resurrection body look like?" 

Going forward we will hear Paul's answers to these questions.  But for now the important point to remember is that the resurrection of our bodies does not depend on us understanding how God will do it.  When we realize that nothing is impossible with God, the resurrection is simple.  Absolutely nothing, including raising the dead, is too difficult for God. 

Along these same lines, in today's Lectionary reading from John 15, verse 5 says, ”I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing."  Jesus is our connection with God who gave us life -- a life filled with fruitfulness of service for God.

As you meditate on today's verse from 1 Corinthians 15 and today's New Testament Lectionary reading from John 15, listen to Allen Pote's choral anthem, "I Am theVine."  (Hinshaw Music)

The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 28 - April 28

Day 28

Ignorant

1 Corinthians 15:34

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.

Wow!  That's a pretty direct statement!  "Wake up from your drunken stupor, sober up, awake to righteousness."  Some Corinthians still believed that this life is the only life you live.  And as we've seen in previous verses, Paul's resurrection arguments are meant to persuade them otherwise, which is one of the reasons that he says some are ignorant of God -- having no knowledge of God.  These are people that we call agnostic -- from the Greek "agnosia" meaning ignorant.  Paul is also saying that these people can live as functional agnostics, in the same way that we know there are "Sunday Christians" and "carnal Christians" who go to church on Sunday but live a life that does not exemplify Jesus Christ.  Paul says that what you believe about the Resurrection controls how you live your life, how you spend your life, and how you invest your time. 

In 1888, Daniel Sidney Warner, a Church of God preacher, wrote the following lyrics:

Awake, ye souls that sleep in sin!
Ye careless, lift your eyes
And look around, above, within,
And see if you are wise.

Awake, awake, O sinner, rise,
Upon the brink of woe;
Thy soul in awful peril lies,
Awake, ere lost below.

What speaks to you in today's verse? 

The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 27 - April 27

Day 27
Misled
1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV) 

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 

This quote that Paul uses was probably well known to the Corinthians.  It is attributed to Menander, a Greek comedy poet.  This line is found in several of his plays and is most likely taken from the philosopher, Euripides.  Paul is telling them that they are picking up false doctrines from those around them.  Remember how in yesterday's verse Paul cautioned the Corinthians to not engage in things that were excessive and would satisfy their physical cravings?  Again, he is cautioning them to not be misled by those who preach false doctrine.

A cautionary tale for today's society should be to take a look at your social media.  How many friends do you have on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all of the other social networks?  Are they really your friends?  Or are they bad company that is corrupting your good character?

The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 26 - April 26

 

Day 26

Gained

1 Corinthians 15:32 (NIV)

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."

It appears that Corinthian Christians, with their new found salvation, were continuing to enjoy their former pagan lives and rituals by "living as if there was no tomorrow."  We haven't talked before about the fact that Paul is writing this letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus.  In Ephesus, as in all of the Roman Empire, men engaged in tournaments with wild animals that could result in their death.  (Think about the gladiators, chariot races, the Coliseum, and the movie "Ben Hur")  These men understood their mortality and chose to live a life that included excessive eating, drinking, and sex; anything that would satisfy their own feelings.  Paul was shocked that the Corinthians were taking this same attitude.  They looked upon themselves as free people.  They were satisfying their personal feelings by eating excessively with pagans and engaging in immoral sex.  They were even drinking excessively in their own houses of worship. 

Paul is once again pleading his case for belief in the resurrection -- the incentive for salvation.  He is telling them to not behave like the carnal humans they were before they were "raised from the dead."  To not be like the gladiators of the Roman Empire who live a life of excess because they fear that today will be their last day on earth.  Instead, Paul tells the Corinthians that the hope lies in the resurrection, not human hopes.

Mark 8:36 tells us, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"  As you listen to "Lose My Soul" by Toby Mac, think about your attitude towards life.  Do you feel that just because you're a Christian that gives you permission to do whatever you want -- no matter the consequences?  Do you "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die"?  As Christians, we do not just prepare for our death, instead we prepare for an eternal life -- a life that will never end.