The Walking Dead
Preached by Jason Abbott
December 4, 2016
It was a couple of Easters ago when I opened my Facebook feed to find one of my friends, who’s not a believer, telling his entire online community to have a “happy Jesus-is-a-zombie day.” His thinking, I imagine, went something like this: (1st) Easter is when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. (2nd) Resurrections don’t happen because when people really die they stay dead. (3rd) The dead walking around is the stuff of horror films and uncivilized folklore. So (4th) I’m going to poke fun at this silly Christian belief in zombies.I cannot think of anything that’s less inspiring or less hopeful than believing in a resurrection resembling a zombie apocalypse. And this most certainly isn’t what Christians believe about the resurrection—as my friend certainly understood. Rather than something scary and dark, believers have always seen the resurrection of the dead as a doctrine of encouragement. So Paul could write:
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power (1 Corinthians 15:41-43).
Sounds a bit better than the walking dead, doesn’t it? It sounds like the start of real living—not the mere shadow of life which we taste here and now!However, did you know that this vision is inextricably tied to the incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Jesus Christ? In short, without the incarnation, we’d have no hope of glory and no hope of power. Life as we now experience it—with all the pain and suffering and loss—would be all the hope that we have.No incarnation means no resurrection. And this brings us to today’s passage.
1 Corinthians 15:16-20
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
In order to study this text, we’re going to consider (1st) the walking dead—who are described here, and (2nd) the walking living—who stand in sharp contrast to the dead. We’re going to grasp how the birth and life and death and resurrection of Jesus make those who are dead alive again.
1. The walking dead (vv. 16-19)
In the AMC series entitled The Walking Dead, there has been a horrifying sort-of zombie apocalypse. When people in the drama die, they get back up again as walking corpses. Thus they’re “the walking dead.”But, for those who watch the show, there’s a subtle but important question being asked through the title. Namely, who are the walking dead? Zombies aside, what characters in the show are really living—really maintaining purpose in life, really living a life worth living? See in the show there are characters that aren’t living in this way. There are individuals who are eating and drinking and surviving, but who aren’t really living—who aren’t really alive. They walk and they breathe, but they’re really dead—they’ve ceased to really live life.Something like this is being implied in Paul’s argument in today’s passage. You see, people in the church at Corinth were saying that there is no resurrection. In a lot of ways, these were people like the friend I mentioned in the introduction of the sermon, people who thought that a physical resurrection was a silly idea. These “were savvy, philosophical, cosmopolitan folks” who thought they were above such nonsense.1But what Paul argues here is that without this “nonsense” life is pitiable—that life isn’t worth living without resurrection hope. Look at what he says again:
. . . if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are . . . in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished (vv. 17-18).
At the very least, Paul is saying that if Jesus didn’t die as the sacrifice for sin and if he didn’t rise in victory over sin and death in resurrection, then we’re dead. At the very least, he’s saying we’re like prisoners on death row; we’re condemned to die as the penalty for our sins. We’re, in this sense, simply dead men walking. Without resurrection hope, we’re just death row people.When you’re on death row, are you truly living life? Do those on death row learn French? Do those on death row take pottery classes? Do those on death row study horticulture? Why would these things rarely (if ever!) happen with prisoners on death row?The answer is because they have no hope of living and using such skills. They haven’t the hope of traveling to France, of opening their own pottery studio, or of planting and cultivating their own garden. They’re as good as dead already; thus, really or truly living is all but impossible for them. They have no future.But friends, Paul isn’t talking to people who are confined on death row here. He is talking to free men and women. Paul is talking to people who could, at least, in theory, acquire languages and use them, learn a craft and open a business with it, or study gardening and grow fruit and vegetables and flowers.Friends, Paul’s writing to people just like you and me, and he’s telling them (and telling us!) that without resurrection hope in Christ our life here is hopeless and meaningless. He’s saying that without the resurrection we’re on death row too. In the end, all our accomplishments and all our hopes will perish with us in death. Along these same lines, Paul will argue later:
If the dead are not raised [if there’s no resurrection], “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32b).
In other words, if you’re a dead man walking, then get what you can now. Fill yourself up with all the pleasures life has to offer because there’s nothing else, there’s no pleasure after this for you. There’s only judgment because of sin.This is all we have without the resurrection hope! We’re simply dead men and dead women walking! Thus, philosopher William Lane Craig describes life, without a resurrection hope, in dark terms. He writes:
If there is no God, then man and the universe are doomed. Like prisoners condemned to death, we await our unavoidable execution. There is no God, and there is no immortality. And what is the consequence of this? It means that life itself is absurd. It means that the life we have is without ultimate significance, value, or purpose.2
This is the grim picture we get of life without God and his resurrection hope in Christ. We’re simply the walking dead if life is void of any ultimate significance or ultimate value or ultimate purpose.But that’s not where Paul ends. Rather, he insists there is resurrection life. Let’s now consider the sharp and hopeful contrast Paul provides in this text.
2. The walking living (v. 20)
In verse twenty, Paul quickly shifts gears, and hope breaks in. He writes:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (v. 20).
What are firstfruits? If Jesus’ resurrection is a kind of firstfruits resurrection, what does that mean? What is Paul saying?If you can imagine what life was like before refrigerators and supermarkets then you can begin to understand the tremendous significance of these firstfruits. When people planted and grew their food and couldn’t store it away indefinitely—couldn’t freeze it or buy more at the grocery store when it was gone—the firstfruits of a given crop were cause for celebration. It signified that the rest or the fullness of the harvest was coming. It signified life was coming!Paul is saying that this is the relationship between the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection—his resurrection shows us that our resurrection is coming. The glory of his resurrection body is the firstfruits of the glory that will be ours when we receive our resurrection bodies. Paul is telling us that this is the promise which we have in Jesus’ resurrection.In short, Paul is saying that rather than being dead men and dead women—who wander about our lives without real significance, real value, or real purpose. In Christ’s resurrection we are made alive, and we are commissioned to serve God in two tremendously meaningful ways.First, we have resurrection life in us now. So Paul explains in Romans:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11).
We were the walking dead but through the Holy Spirit, we come alive now; we’ve been transformed into the walking living. Thus one of the meaningful ways that we get to serve God is by displaying our new resurrection life in the present. Theologian Tom Wright argues that such living is eternal. He explains:
The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die. God will raise it to new life. What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it . . . What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future.3
What this means is that Christians should be the most industrious of people. We should be exceedingly motivated to do everything for the praise of God now because we know that these things “are [not] destined to extinction” in the “death of the solar system”4 but will, rather, continue on into eternity as the blessed décor of God’s perfect New Creation.We were just discussing something similar this week in our small group. One young lady in our gathering confessed that sometimes she feels conflicted about whether or not she should enjoy expressing herself in her fashion choices with her clothing. And, each of us admitted that we could identify in our own way with her struggle—like whether expressing ourselves in our joking or our cooking or our decorating is a good or a bad thing.Let me just say that God calls us to unity not uniformity. He’s created each of us with unique talents and giftings. And God wants us to serve him with them. Now, while we need to be careful not to worship the gift rather than the gift Giver, we should nevertheless enjoy expressing ourselves with our giftings for the glory of our God. In fact, we should do this with zeal because it’s one of the main ways that we demonstrate resurrection hope. So:
If you’re an artist, create paintings worthy of eternity.
If you’re an architect, design buildings worthy of eternity.
If you’re an accountant, keep precise books worthy of eternity.
Christians should be the very best culture crafters and creators. Far too often, we’ve merely imitated what our culture is already doing. Friends, use your giftings for the glory of God in ways that enrich the world we live in.The second way we can serve God with the resurrection life that we have is by giving others an invitation to the very life we’re now experiencing as believers, giving them the hope and purpose that Christ came to bring. Jesus says of himself in the Gospel of John:
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
Christmas is the season each year in which the church celebrates the coming of Jesus. But somehow we manage to forget, or sidestep, the purpose he came for. We celebrate a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a feeding trough. We celebrate angel choirs and stunned but faithful shepherds. We celebrate gifts that were given by kings who came from far, far away.But the main thing we should remember and celebrate in the birth of Jesus is that he came to bring life where there was only death—he came to raise the dead. That’s the main reason for celebration at Christmas.Jesus was born holy so that he could die for sin. The penalty for sin is death, and we were dead in our sins. So the Son of God came in the person of Jesus Christ in order to transform the walking dead into the walking living. He took our sins upon himself and gave us his holiness. He suffered the wrath of God for our sins, and we enjoy the love of God for his righteousness. He was born to do this work, and he did it perfectly. His resurrection proves it!This is the good news that angels sang about at that very first Christmas. This is the good news that Jesus commanded his followers to proclaim to the world before he ascended into heaven. This is the good news that brings resurrection life to us now in the person of the Holy Spirit, and it’s the good news that will one day at Christ’s return bring us resurrection life for eternity.Isn’t it worth gossiping about at work? Isn’t it worth inviting people to hear about on Sunday mornings? Some people are only willing to attend church services on a couple occasions each year—and Christmas Eve is usually one of those two. We’ll be preaching this good news. Please consider inviting someone to hear it.
1 John Piper, “Pity Not Them Who Rise with Christ”, preached April 15, 2001.
2 Read William Lane Craig’s entire article: “The Absurdity of Life without God” here.
3 N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 193.
4 Bertrand Russell, A Free Man’s Worship. You can read it in its entirety here.
