If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. 1 Corinthians 15:32

This week, we’re looking at a subject that sometimes can make us uncomfortable. Does what we do even matter in this life? We are all going to die eventually, so what does it matter what things I do now? This was a common issue of his day as well, as one of the philosophical beliefs was that you live and die without any sort of life after. I’m sure we’ve all had times of really thinking about what it will be like to die and what comes after. Paul here is both giving hope and challenging us at the same time by that first phrase: “If the dead are not raised.”

Paul knew that the greatest turning point in history was Jesus’ resurrection. Without that, we have no hope for forgiveness and a restored relationship with God. We were completely separated from God because of our sinful hearts, and God is so holy that He must abolish sin. This is why Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection are so incredibly miraculous to us. But even all of the love, life, and death of Jesus was not enough. Jesus had to be raised back to love to prove victory over sin and death... a victory that we could never have won. Now we have the opportunity to be raised with Christ and spend forever with Him in heaven after our lives on earth are done. The resurrection is the greatest moment in history. It’s the greatest display of love and power. It’s not just something that God did, but it is the greatest revelation of who He is. It was a God that had every right to destroy us offering us a way of escape that we didn’t deserve. It means everything.

That’s the qualifier that Paul is putting forth here in 1 Corinthians. Shouldn't we be able to live our lives for whatever purposes and selfish enjoyment that we want? Shouldn't we wake up and think about what we want and go do it? Shouldn't we even live without care of others, instead just living for pure enjoyment? That would all be true... except the resurrection happened. When God reached down to us through Jesus and offered us life with Him through the resurrection, that changes everything. Now we can have eternal life after our earthy lives. We can live with Him in heaven forever. We get to live now with Him as the Holy Spirit lives and works in and through us. Doesn’t this change our entire outlook on life? We now have a love and desire for other people to know and understand the opportunity that they have to live with a restored relationship with the Creator God. Our earthly lives are a giant billboard to the rest of the world that an eternal life is coming. It is no longer “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” because the dead ARE raised. So live life like Jesus has conquered death, and prepare to enjoy eternity with Him by enjoying each day with Him now.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 (CSB)

Jesus spoke more about money than any other subject, and again in today's passage Jesus is referring specifically to money and possessions. In every translation I could find the term "Treasure" was used, and I wondered why no one translated it as "Money." I don't know about you, but when I think of treasure I think pirates, but Jesus doesn't have pirates in mind. The Greek word is Theisauros (Which is where we get our word thesaurus. A thesaurus is a "treasury" of words). It was a way of saying, "Store house" or, "Savings account." So a paraphrase of this passage could be, "Where you store your money and possessions is what you will live your life for" (Ivey's paraphrase). Where your money and possessions are saved, your devotion, passions, thoughts, and time will follow.

I do not bet on sports (And don't recommend you do), but I've heard people say betting on sports makes the games even more exciting. They will say that every play means more. The Super Bowl was a couple of Sundays ago. Following the big game I saw video after video of people who had bet large amounts of money against the Chiefs, and when the Chiefs won, they lost a lot of money. What followed was rage, broken TVs, fights, broken relationships, tears, and cursing. This is Jesus' statement in practice. If you store your money with Fanduel that is what you will live your life for. In other words, you can direct your heart. If you want your heart to be invested in the Super Bowl, place all your money in it.

As Christians, our highest priority should not be how much we can earn or collect on this side of eternity. We should be all about how we can store our material possessions in heaven. When we store our possessions and money in heaven, we will direct our hearts there.

How do we store physical things in a spiritual place? We often make too much of a distinction between what is spiritual and what is physical. In a sense, everything in the material world is also spiritual. And we can store our material possessions in heaven by using them to advance God's kingdom. Use what God has given you to start churches. Use it to help the least of these. Use it to love your neighbor. Use it to support your church. Use it to support missionaries. Use it to advance Christ-honoring initiatives and justice. Use it to expand the places and hearts where God rules.

So how much should we give to God? This is how the English pastor Peter Masters encourages us, "All we are and all we have is the Lord’s, and, although we must provide for our housing, clothing, food, and other responsibilities, we live on His money, for all our income is His, and available to Him as needed. We do not say, 'What proportion should I give?' but rather, 'All is His, what proportions do I need to retain?' This attitude alone will make us realistic about how we spend our money."

Can you honestly say that you have gone all in with storing your money and possessions in heaven?

Congrats! You completed week 7 of Crazy Love. Now go to community group and share, learn, and enjoy time with your church family.