Chuck Larsen

I remember watching my Dad die in the VA Hospital and seeing him deteriorate during the last few months of his life. My mom went faster but cancer got her too a couple of years later. For about three months we watched Kathy’s mom wasting away a little each day. It was a difficult time for her and for us as well. Jean had some hard moments, but she also had some courageous moments as her faith sustained her through this struggle. It caused us to think about and talk about how we will face our own passing from this world. We’re not afraid of death, but dying does give us pause, and well, it should. It’s easy to lose heart in the face of such a reality that sits before each and every one of us. Paul knew what that was like himself. He suffered the failings of the flesh. As he grew older, he couldn’t see, or hear, or walk as well as he had as a younger man. I’m feeling that now that I’m in my 70s also. Paul watched death on its pale horse approaching and drawing closer with each passing year, yet he did “not lose heart.” He said that even though his “outer man was wasting away,” his faith in Christ and what awaited him in the afterlife sustained him through it all. He wrote it down by the inspiration of God’s Spirit so that we could follow his lead. He said in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “We do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”

Paul explains that his ability to maintain courage in the face of “wasting away” in the flesh is based on something he cannot see. The renewing of his heart, the very source of his courage to face his own decaying body, is found in something rather strange. In verse 18 of the same passage, he writes, “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Just a few passages later, Paul adds a summary describing his life on this earth, in this flesh, with these weaknesses. In 2 Corinthians 5:7, he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

John Piper writes his commentary on this verse in his work entitled “Future Grace.” He says, “This (walking by faith, not by sight) doesn’t mean that he (Paul) leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses. We ‘look’ at these unseen things through the gospel. By the grace of God, we see what Paul called ‘the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). We strengthen our hearts—we renew our courage—by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.” This means that our hope is built upon the revealed truth of God’s promises recorded for us in the Bible. Living by faith is not a leap in the dark. It’s a step into the light! A step into the light is a step into the truths of Jesus Christ! After all, He is “the light of the world.”

1 Corinthians 3:9 says that we are “co-workers.” Some translations say “workers together.” Others say “fellow workers.” The Good News Bible says that “we are partners, working together.” The traditional King James says, “We are laborers together with God.”  But I still like “co-workers” best. We are working, along with God, in the building of His church on the one foundation laid by the apostles: the Lord Christ Jesus. One commentator says, “Within the context of this passage, co-worker means that God allows us to PARTICIPATE TOGETHER WITH HIM IN HIS KINGDOM’S work.” We all have the same mission. It’s called the “Great Co-mission.” Jesus commanded us all to embrace this mission and join together with the various gifts, passions, abilities, personalities, and experiences that God gave us for the furtherance of this mission of “making disciples.”  Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV)

This mission bonds Christians together and unifies our efforts. The commentator quoted above goes on to say, “It is God’s agenda, not ours, and we work together to achieve our common goal. That’s what it means to be co-workers. We have the same objective, and we are working together to achieve it.” Many of us remember the rescue of 18-month-old Jessica McClure, who was trapped in an abandoned water well for over 58 hours. This happened in Texas a few months after we left Texas and moved back to Michigan. One reporter said that the rescue was performed by “up to 50 on-site mining engineers, firefighters, paramedics, drillers, jackhammer operators, law enforcement officers and other support people.” The common goal brought out “the higher quality and better part of the human soul and the human spirit.”

Many of the workers normally competed with one another in the oil drilling business. But all petty jealousies and completion were set aside to accomplish something more important: the physical salvation of a little girl. “The biggest thing … was the teamwork of the people involved,” David Lilly recalled. “It worked beautifully. Every person there was just willing to do everything above and beyond (their duty). There was no arguing or bickering.” A final report said, “One-time business partners turned bitter rivals were working side by side, and even hugged one another after the rescue.” In the matter of making disciples, we are co-workers. Paul told the Philippians to “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:2-4)

The resurrection is the central, most important truth taught in the Bible. The unbelieving world often wants to embrace the love standards and ethical teachings of the Bible as valid while dismissing or rejecting the historical claims of the Bible. Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 15 that if the resurrection of Jesus is not true, then all who look to Christ for Salvation are indeed a people with a useless and futile faith. Actually, without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no Christianity, and as Morgan puts it, “…what we believe is mere philosophical rhetoric taught by a man who was either crazy, a liar, or both.”

One of the major arguments that attempt to explain the resurrection of Christ by some liberal theologians is that the disciples saw Jesus through the eyes of faith. Much like the 12 apostles of Joseph Smith admitted to having seen the golden plates. They didn’t see them physically, but only through the eyes of faith. That faith, then, produced the doctrine. When we read the Gospel accounts, we find that contrary to liberal theology today, it wasn’t faith that created the appearances of Jesus to His apostles and followers. It was His appearances that created the faith. The Apostles were hiding in an upper room, afraid of their future, worried about the consequences they’d suffer because they had been His followers. He had been executed. What would happen to them? On the night of Jesus’ execution, Peter, the “chief” follower, denied that he even knew Him. No, it took the reality of His resurrection and appearances to them to bring them from fear to faith. No, faith did not create the appearances. The appearances created the faith.

In verse 17 of 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that without the resurrection, we have no forgiveness of sins. The holiness and love of God were seen on the cross, but forgiveness and grace were seen in the empty tomb. If Christ had not risen from the dead, He could not have forgiven sins.  In verses 18-19, we learn that without the resurrection, we have no future. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, those who have died before us would be lost and those perishing would have no hope. Without hope for a future, there is no meaning for today. So because of the resurrection, we have life, real life, abundant life today, and eternal life beyond the grave. Since the resurrection is a certain, clear, historical doctrine of our faith, we can live not just in the moment but with the light of eternal life that shines in the darkness. Baker’s New Testament commentary puts it this way, “The Lord is risen indeed! Here all changes. The Cross, the very instrument of despair, becomes an object of glory. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the source of living hope. Listen to the message of exuberant joy, praise, and thanksgiving. Hear it from the lips of one who experienced the deepest darkness of despair and remorse. Says Peter: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).