1 Corinthians 15:21-28

²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

I Appreciate it!

Normally, how do you practically express your gratitude and appreciation?

What do you verbally say in response to kindness? We often say, “Thank you?” If you want to emphasize your gratitude you say, “Thank you! I appreciate it!”

Gratitude from the heart could be expressed naturally and verbally. Does it require meditative effort of reflection if we verbally express our thankfulness?

What has God done for you that you were always thankful, and every time you pray, you would gladly thank the Lord for it? Maybe, you are thankful of your health, job, family, friends, relatives or that you belong to this church. And God knows it, if we are really thankful or just being polite but not entirely grateful.

Together, let us meditatively reflect on what it declares in Jeremiah 17:10:

¹⁰I, the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.

If we deserve his reward, we don’t need to appeal to the Lord. He rewards anyone who deserves. The Lord investigates our heart; he scrutinizes our mind, and if we are worthy to be rewarded, God rewards us according to our behavior.

If you’re a business owner, you appreciate diligence of employees, right? You give appropriate incentives to diligent employees who deserve. All business owners prefer diligent employees who are productive at work. When the boss is not around, diligent and responsible employees use their work time productively.

With or without supervisor but we work diligently as habit, it builds in us a respectable character. Every activity can be opportunity to store up treasures for ourselves in heaven, and at the same time, respectable character is built in us.

Have you explored the power that Christ promised in Acts 1:8? ⁸You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.

Have you actually experienced being empowered by the Holy Spirit? How can we practically know if we are filled and inspired by the Holy Spirit? You may pray like, “Lord Jesus, please fill me and inspire me by your Holy Spirit!”

When the Holy Spirit inspires us, we gladly work responsibly. When we are glad, we work diligently. Gladness and diligence are great experience of life in its fullness. Christ declared “I have come that you may have life in its fullness.”

1.  Come

²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 

Death has come to all human beings when Adam the first mankind sinned.

Jesus Christ was born as human; he died, buried and resurrected. And all believers who belong to him will also resurrect into heaven when Christ returns.

How can we explain Christ, the firstfruits to our children? Among all people with mortal body who died, Christ was the first to resurrect into heaven. Christ’s resurrection assures us that all believers who belong to him will resurrect. Can we practically prove that we will resurrect if we die before Christ returns?

By faith, we trust that Christ resurrected from the dead, and we have also resurrected to new life. What is resurrection to new life in Christ compared to old life without Christ? Maybe in your old life without Christ, you were lazy and not diligent at work when no one is observing. After you believed by faith in Christ, you become diligent, responsible employee; not lazy anymore. That is new life!

How do you personally apply what it says in 2 Timothy 1:7-8? ⁷For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ⁸So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord. 

If you are powerless, you easily yield to the temptation of laziness when no one is watching. When the Holy Spirit of God transforms you, you are not easily tempted by laziness. Supervisor and other employees will observe the difference in your behavior eventually, if you have self-discipline and work productively.

Grades

You heard it says, “When the cat is away, the mouse will play.” Meaning: “When the supervisor is not around, employees will just mess or play at work.” In school, teachers award deserving students based on their grades. And just to get higher grades during exams, many students would cheat. Cheating during exams becomes a habit. Cheaters in school will become cheaters at workplaces.

Laziness at workplaces is cheating. It is not productively favorable to the company to be lazy at work. CCTVs and cameras have caught laziness and cheating at workplaces. Cheating and laziness are never beneficial to anybody.

If students have peace and gladness of heart, they diligently study even when lessons are difficult to understand. Can the Holy Spirit help students to learn about calculus, accounting or philosophy? Instead of worrying, pause, pray and wait until you sense joy, peace, patience from the Lord. When you joyfully study your lesson diligently even with much trouble, it’s your testimony for Christ.

How do you apply what it declares in 1 Corinthians 1:24-25? ²⁴Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Weaknesses, deficiency and imperfection are aftereffects of sinful nature. Mistakes may remind us of human limits. It’s wise to learn more about our eternal God. We should seek help from Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Christ is gracious. He cares, provides and wants the best for us. He promised life in its fullness to believers. Personally, how do you interpret what Christ declares in Matthew 28:18? ¹⁸All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

His authority in heaven and on earth includes, moral, spiritual and earthly power that controls, permits, sanctions, and mandates anything that he deems glorifying to his name. Will it glorify the name of the Lord for students to get high grades? Will it glorify the name of the Lord for us to work diligently? Certainly, high grade and diligence at work practically serve as our testimony in Christ.

If we pray for increase of faith in Christ, will God control our life? Will Christ control our eternal destiny including our dreams or achievements on earth?

2.  Control

²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

When the right time comes, Christ will destroy all dominion, authority and power including death. Does it mean that Christ control our dreams also? Believe it or not, everyone will become immortal in the next life. Believers of Christ will enjoy heaven for all eternity. Anyone who rejects him will suffer somewhere.

After everything is accomplished according to the blueprint of God for his kingdom, and death is destroyed, and all mankind get immortal body, then, Christ will deliver the kingdom into the hands of God the Father. All things on earth will be destroyed. Can you imagine that? There will be new heaven and new earth.

Before the end of the world comes, Christ will return and take all believers into heaven. Do you strongly believe that you enter heaven when Christ returns?

How do you confirm that you have genuine faith and you will enter heaven when Christ returns? What is your practical proof that you were not deceived?

Seriously reflect on Matthew 6:20-21 ²⁰Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Christ declares, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Christ implies practical proof that when he returns, we certainly enter heaven. Really? How is that? Imagine if you were getting married, how do you prepare?

Wedding

You agreed with your fiancée that you will get married. You planned for your wedding. You invited friends and relatives to rejoice with you and attend your wedding. You reserved the venue for the wedding ceremony and reception. Everything is set as planned. What do you do while waiting for the wedding day?

You personally prepare also. You buy the best dress that you can afford. You get the best hair cut or hairdo and check your appearance in the mirror to be sure you look great when you present yourself to your fiancée. You won’t try to impress your fiancée, anymore, but you want to be the best of yourself somehow.

Interestingly, there will be grand celebration when we enter heaven. It is called the wedding of the Lamb of God. Christ is the groom, and the church, we believers are his bride. Seriously, let us reflect on what had been prophesied in Revelation 19:6-8, ⁶Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. ⁷Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. ⁸Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.

Will you attend the grand celebration of the wedding of the Lamb of God? Make sure you can attend. What practical proof do you have to confirm that you enter heaven when Christ returns and attend the wedding of the Lamb of God?

Imagine your wedding: Your wedding day comes; you don’t have wedding dress to wear, how terrible will that experience be? Similar to preparation for wedding, we’ve got to prepare for the coming of Christ, the Lamb of God. We don’t know, but Christ will return when everything in God’s plan is completed.

3.  Complete

²⁷For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

The phrase “Put everything under his feet” symbolically illustrates that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ. And after Christ has completed everything that was assigned for him to accomplish, everything in heaven and on earth will be delivered under the controlling authority of God.

The Scripture present God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father sent God the Son in the person of Jesus Christ to be born on earth and died in human flesh. Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and returned to heaven, and God the Father sent God the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all who believe in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.

The Holy Spirit himself guarantees that all believers will enter heaven.

How do you know that you receive the Holy Spirit of God? Together, let us seriously reflect on Colossians 3:12-14, ¹²As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

There are people who can forgive even if they do not have faith in Christ. Maybe, they have compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. We do not deny that. But those descriptions for God’s chosen people were written for believers to practically confirm the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life.

Personally reflect upon yourself. Has your behavior been transformed ever since you trust Christ as your Lord and Savior? Do you sense compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience? Can you readily forgive those who made your life difficult just as the Lord forgave you? Do you sense love for unity?

Bundle of Sticks

Someone published in social media that parents wish unity among their children. Unity among siblings is important and crucial. There’re stories of sibling quarrels. But it is wonderful to hear stories of siblings who care for each other.

There was a fictional story of brothers who quarrel almost every single day. One day after another painful quarrel, their father gathered and bundle sticks. He gave the bundled sticks his sons. He told them, “Try to break that bundle of stick if you are strong.” Each of his sons tried his best, but none was able to do so.

The father untied the bundle sticks and told his sons to break the sticks one by one. They broke one stick after another very easily. The father said, “My sons! Do you now realize that if you’re united and agree to help each other, it will be impossible for your enemies to injure or break you? But if you are divided among yourselves, you will not be stronger than a single stick in that bundle.”

Together, let us reflect on the prayer of Christ in John 17:20-23, ²⁰I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Why was it that Christ prayed for unity among believers? He already knew that there will be quarrels among Christians. It is very sad reality. Many evangelical Christian churches have split, not just once but multiple times. Unity among us testifies that we have been transformed from our old self to new life in Christ.

Anywhere, quarrel may happen: in the family, at workplaces, in school, in politics and also in the church. It practically proves that this world is not a perfect place. Bad elements in the dark world won’t stop causing disagreement, troubles and quarrels, and victims could be confused and disillusioned.

As children of God bound to heaven, we should pray that God grants unity among us, just as our Lord Jesus Christ had prayed for unity for us. Christ has resurrected first into heaven. He will return and resurrect us also, amen?

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