First Fruits
Leviticus 23:9-11
1 Corinthians 15:20-34
Well friends, today I am not going to try and prove the resurrection of Jesus to you.
I am not going to give you the facts of his resurrection and try and convince you that Jesus did actually really, physically raise from the dead.
There are plenty of people and resources that prove that.
And they do a far better job than I can do.
You can have a look at those resources yourself and draw your own conclusion.
Or here is a crazy thought- perhaps you could just read the four separate gospel accounts that are written for us in the scriptures.
As for me, and my household, we are convinced that Jesus really did die, really did rise from the dead three days later, really did, ascend to heaven 40 days later and really is on his throne in heaven now, waiting for that day when he will return to this earth again.
Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just some metaphor, it wasn’t just some spiritual resurrection, it truly was a man coming back from the dead, a physical human being who had been dead for 3 days coming back to life. And unlike, Jesus’ mate Lazarus, who came back from the dead after 4 days, but later on, died again, Jesus came back from the dead and he didn’t die again, he stayed alive, and is alive forever.
And today, if you believe that I am believing in fairy tales, then you should pity me, out of all people I should be pitied the most, for believing not only in Jesus in this life, but for the fuller life to come.
This is where I have placed all my Easter eggs, in this basket!
Where have you placed all your easter eggs? In which basket?
Perhaps the Elon Musk microchip basket, where perhaps you can download yourself on a computer to live forever. Perhaps in some political power which promises life eternal, perhaps in climate change which promises a forever world, no wait…. they don’t, they promise extinction…..
And perhaps for some of you, and it is to you whom I speak with today, you may believe that Jesus did rise from the dead, you may believe everything I have just said about Jesus, but you may be wondering, what has that got to do with me?
You, like many today, may believe there is truth to this man Jesus dying and rising again, but you may rightly ask, so what- what is in it for me?
And this is the question I want to spend a little time on today.
If Jesus really did rise from the dead, what is in it for me?- What is in it for you?
And the short answer is everything, but let us look at this one step at a time.
Look at verse 20 with me:
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The apostle Paul who was inspired by God to write this, said that Jesus was the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Jesus was the first fruit.
In Leviticus 23, it tells us that when God’s people- the Israelites had a harvest and they gathered in the crop, they were required to bring an offering of the first part of the crop to the priest, as an acknowledgement that it was God who provided the crop for them in the first place.
This first fruit, was in a sense sacrificed to God, although the people knew that all the harvest belonged to God anyway, there were simply giving to God, what was already his.
This first fruit of the crop also represented what the rest of the crop was to be like. The first fruits would indicate what kind of crop was going to come in from the whole harvest.
If the first fruits were barley, you could safely assume that the rest of the crop were going to be barley.
When Jesus rose from the dead, as the first fruit of those who had fallen asleep, he represented what would become for those who belong to him. Those who believe he died and rose again for their sins.
The very fact that Paul uses the words “fallen asleep” to represent death, tells us, that for the Christian, for those who belong to Jesus, death in this life is not permanent but temporary- it is just like we fall asleep and are getting ready to wake up again.
Jesus used the same word to talk about the death of Lazarus, whose death was also temporary. The apostle Paul often used the word “asleep” as death for those who belong to Jesus. It is a way of just passing from this life to the next.
And so just as Jesus died and rose again, we as his people will die and rise again, since he showed us, as the first fruit of the harvest of what we too will be like.
Which means this: yes, we will die physically in this life and yet, we will rise again with a new spiritually body in the next life.
Exactly what that looks like and how the timing of all that works- I don’t know, but the apostle Paul does tell us later on this chapter, that our new spiritual body will resemble something of our old one, since he compares them to the seed and the flower. Our bodies now, being the seed, and our spiritual body being the flower. One body which is rough and dirty with sin, and another body which is glorious.
And even though there will be some resemblances between the old and new bodies, just as an apple tree comes from an apple seed, there will also be huge differences, like our new bodies will not die, they will not wear out, they will not sin, like our bodies do now.
In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul tells us that in the next life, we will be able to recognise our loved ones, and if we consider the resurrection of Jesus, we know his body was recognisable to his friends, we know he ate breakfast with his friends, and so we can have some idea of what that new resurrection body may be like.
But in the end, we don’t know all the details and we don’t need to know them.
What we do need to believe is these words of Jesus from John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Paul tells us, in verses 21 and 22 of 1 Corinthians 15, that death came to us all through the one-man Adam when he sinned against God. And despite people’s best efforts, this is just a universal truth: everyone dies. It is a SURE-THING, no-one has avoided it yet (apart from Enoch and Elijah)- and this death came as a result of sin. And yet just as death came through one man- life also came through one man- the second Adam- Jesus Christ. This life, does not come to everyone though, it only comes to those who believe in Jesus, who believe that he is the first fruit among the dead.
In verse 23 Paul talks clearly about this resurrection body at the end of time, when at that time, all we will all be raised back to life, but some will be raised to the resurrection life and some to the resurrection of judgment, as Jesus told his disciples in John 5.
And so, if you believe that Jesus is your representative, this is what you have to look forward to in the future, this is what is in it for you in the future……but wait……., there is more, you can also look forward to new life right now….
Yes, right now.
We are not just a waiting room for heaven, but we are also a spiritual gym, as we work out our new life now.
Before we will be raised physically on that day at the end, we are also raised spiritually now.
For those who belong to Jesus, we have been given his Holy Spirit now.
Listen to this promise of Jesus found in John 14:16-17
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
In fact, before we will be raised physically on that day, we must be raised spiritually first.
Jesus made it clear to his friend Nicodemus that you must be born again, if you want to be part of God’s forever kingdom. A kingdom which Paul describes in verses 24-28 in which the Father has given all authority to his son to rule and which one day will be brought before God the Father, as the last enemy of death is completely destroyed and everyone will acknowledge that God may be all in all.
And so, as people in Christ, we have 3 birthdays, the physical birth, the spiritual birth and another birth when we die.
But how do we become born again now?
Well, it is truly a gift from God, God gives His Spirit to whoever he chooses, it is like the wind we can’t control His spirt, but it shouldn’t stop us asking.
And so, you just have to ask, ask that God will give you his Holy Spirit, give you that heart, that says yes, I also believe that Jesus died and rose again and rules and one day is coming back.
Ask God to give you that heart, His Holy Spirit which says, yes, I may face dangers in this life for my faith, but that is OK, because there is an even better life to come.
Ask God to give you that heart, that is content in this life, knowing that you are living for Jesus both in this life and the one to come.
The apostle Paul was able to face all sorts of trails and sufferings, and hardships, because he knew he had a living hope in Jesus. He mentions all the false teachers – or the beasts at Ephesus as he called them in verse 32 that he constantly had to battle with and yet it was all worth it- and why?
Because he knew that Christ did in fact rise from the dead, and he so he too had a living hope, he knew what was to come, since he had witnessed the first fruits of the harvest.
Friends, if you believe in the resurrected Jesus, it will change your life now for the better.
It may not change it for the perceived “better things” of this world, like money, popularity or even health, but it will change the way you live. As those fruits of the spirit grow in your life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control.
Following the resurrected Christ, doesn’t mean that you follow some dead rituals all your life, but it means you will follow a living Christ, who is constantly changing, and transforming you from within.
In the city of Corinth, in the apostle Paul’s day, there were some people who simply didn’t believe that Jesus rose physically from the dead, although they continued to perform dead rituals which were based on the belief that people could be raised from the dead.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15:29 with me:
Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
Some people in Corinth were being baptised on behalf of their mates who had died before they had a chance to be dunked in water. The had become so obsessed with the outward ritual of baptism, that they were stepping into dead Jonny’s shoes being dunked in water, in the hope that Jonny might be brought to life in the next life.
And yet they failed to trust in the one- Jesus, who baptises us with his Spirit in our hearts.
Friends, what we do hear on Sunday means nothing, if we are not living right with God.
We can perform all the rituals, attend church, take the Lord’s supper, be baptised in water, pray, preach, we can do all those things, and don’t get me wrong, they are good things, but if our heart is not in it, then we are wasting our time. If we are not walking in step with his spirit, it is pointless, we truly are to be pitied.
And to walk in the spirit, doesn’t mean that you are some spiritual Powerhouse, performing miraculous works, …….NO…. walking in the spirit, means first of all dying to yourself.
Look at what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31
I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
Paul told the brothers and sisters at Corinth, that he died every day- He died every day.
Paul tells us elsewhere that after he finished teaching others about Jesus, he would beat his body, so that he too would not fall into temptation.
Every day, Paul by the grace of God would say NO, to what he wanted to do, and yes to what God wanted him to do. Every day, he would die to his evil desires and instead walk in step with the spirit……everyday…….he would ask God to help him overcome temptation.
Paul lists a few examples of how people could die to themselves in verses 33 and 34.
He says that people should die to that desire they have to get drunk. He says that people should die to the desire they have to hang out with bad company.
And so, friends, walking in the spirit, is about dying to ourselves and asking and praying what God wants us to do.
Perhaps for you, today, this Easter time, a time of new life, it is time for you once again evaluate what you may need to die to, and instead think and pray how you can walk in the life of the spirit.
Maybe it means sacrificing something of your time, or money for the sake of others.
Perhaps it means removing yourself from unhealthy relationships, perhaps it means helping those difficult people.
I don’t know how it may look for you, but I do know this- it is all worth it.
Worth it, because we have a living hope in Jesus, not only in this life, but the one to come.
Let us pray.