DO YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE?

Your life matters – your life is valuable. Whatever your circumstances, whether you are royalty or commoner, prince or pauper. At the end of St Paul’s magnificent exposition of the truth and reality of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, after he has presented the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, and defined the content of the Gospel in terms of Jesus death for our sins, his burial, and then his resurrection on the third day; after he has argued for the centrality of the resurrection of the dead and the nature of the resurrection body, and affirmed our final transformation and victory over death, he comes to his conclusion:

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (v.58)

What is he exhorting us to stand firm in? At the beginning of his presentation he says of the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus: “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” (v.2)

So we are to stand firm in our belief in this gospel of the resurrection of Jesus. Let nothing move us from this conviction, that Jesus was raised from the dead, and so procured for us our bodily resurrection. Belief in Jesus without this historic and eternal event would be in vain. As he writes in this chapter: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all others.” (v.19)

He tells us to “hold firmly” to this truth because it is a matter of life and death. To hold lightly to it and to lose it will result in disaster. It is like holding on to a life-raft when we are cast into the sea. To let go of it will mean death by drowning. Hold firmly! Stand firm! Let nothing move you! Why is this so important?

Belief in the resurrection of Jesus, and our resurrection with him, gives meaning to our earthly life. We can give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, in this life, because, through our belief in the resurrection, we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain – it is meaningful. Life matters!

“Let nothing move you” from this conviction. There is much that attempts to move us from this belief. Secularism in its various forms, denies the possibility of life beyond this one. Self-sufficient humanism accepts no final goals beyond human flourishing on this earth and does not acknowledge any allegiance beyond this material world. Exclusive rationalism rules out any reality beyond what can be scientifically measured. A transcendent reality that is beyond our comprehension is rejected as fantasy. Miracles and visions are declared impossible. Death is to be accepted as final dissolution.

Suffering seems to argue against a God of love who promises to take care of you. You may be anxious and distressed by the problems of family members, by sickness, by financial fears, by the loss of one you have loved for many years. Getting rid of God can seem to be a relief, a liberation from carrying moral baggage which only weighs us down and never delivers on its promises. Yet to believe only in this world is to feel an emptiness in everyday life, a feeling that nothing ultimately matters, that everything we do is in vain. This feeling is summed up in the famous song by Peggy Lee: “Is that all there is?” Is it no wonder that we are tempted to believe that our life is in vain, that nothing matters, that our life, in the long run, has no enduring value. If this is all there is, is life worth all the effort?

To counter this sense of meaninglessness we concentrate on making this world a place in which we experience fulfillment. Our contemporary concern to preserve life, to bring prosperity, to reduce suffering world-wide is regarded as unprecedented in history. Politics is consumed with promising to solve problems in this life, because this is all there is. We have seen this during the COVID-19 pandemic. But we ignore the reality of death. Death is the last enemy. It must be fought and held off till the very last moment. But unless we have an answer to death, we are defeated by it. It is only in the resurrection of Jesus that we have the victory over death.

Make no mistake about it: belief in the resurrection of Jesus, and consequently our resurrection, is a revolutionary, counter-cultural, anti-secular belief in God who is able to intervene in history, as he did in Jesus. This is not an outmoded superstition which has been discredited by modern knowledge. It is the perennial good news that brings us hope in a world that many intellectuals and influential media skeptics present as reduced to the survival of the fittest and determined by our genetic inheritance. The universe is portrayed by secularists as indifferent to us. Deep time and space is understood as rendering us insignificant, and ultimately of no account. But there is a paradox here that the secularist cannot resolve.

“If the present world is to be abandoned, why work to improve it, to rid it of oppression and dehumanization? The point of the resurrection, for Paul, is that entropy does not have the last word, for humans or for the world as a whole. God has the last word, and it will be lifegiving. Present Christian existence, therefore, with all its pains and struggles, is infinitely worthwhile…The resurrection gives us not only hope for the future but a sense of meaning and purpose to the present.” (N.T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus, p.121)

If we know that we share in the resurrection of Jesus through our faith and life in him, everything that we do in our lives take on greater significance. We have a perspective on our own lives, and that of others, that extends to infinity. Everything matters. Every word you say, every action you perform, every relationship you invest in, takes on a more enduring value. It is forwarded to eternity. Everything you attempt to do, every conversation you engage in, is invested with eternal importance. It is invested in the bank of heaven.

Nothing is lost if there is a resurrection from the dead. The bank of heaven does not fail – its assets are secured by the resources of the author of life. Every premature death of a loved one, any seemingly meaningless suffering, any injustice, can be resolved if there is a resurrection of the dead. All that is cut short will be completed. All questions will be answered. All wrong will one day be righted. Any unexplained accident, any brutal act, any natural disaster, can be illuminated, if there is a future resurrection. What we know now in part we will know fully. Any debilitating grief, any secret sorrow or heartache, any gnawing pain, any lifelong anguish, will find ultimate comfort and healing if there is a resurrection of the body. What we sow in tears we one day reap in joy.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26) To believe in this Jesus is to take his life into yourself, to enter into a new existence called eternal life. It is to become united with Christ in his death and resurrection. Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are outward signs of this reality. Through living each day in the Spirit of Christ, trusting in him for our salvation, our strength, our courage, our hope, we are raised with Christ. That was the message and theme of the funeral service of Prince Phillip in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor on April 17, 2021.

Our future life is with Christ in glory. As we age, and our earthly strength fades and falters, all that we have done in Christ’s strength endures, and carries us on to a heavenly reward. Nothing is lost. Life matters. Life is eternal. We have so much to look forward to, and so much to be grateful for.

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, The Message)

Nothing you do for God, for good, for love, for truth, for Jesus, is a waste of time or effort. Your life matters. You can depend upon it.