Much time, energy, and money is being spent in order to prolong or even escape death. But can we actually do this through science? Or does it require a higher power to attain immortality?
A sermon on the resurrection of the dead.
Outline:
1. In Christ we will live for ever
2. In Christ we will be changed
3. In Christ our labor is building the kingdom of God
Links:
Bryan Johnson’s Longevity Blueprint – NY Times
The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever- Time
Achieving Immortality – The American Scientist
Chasing Ghosts with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – The Washington Post
Quotes:
The entire Bible pivots on one weekend in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. Attempts to make sense of the Bible that do not give prolonged thought to integrating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are doomed to failure, at best exercises in irrelevance.
-D.A. Carson
If Christ is not risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is risen, nothing else matters.
-Jaroslav Pelikan
Our problem is very simple—we simply do not know how to live as people who believe that Jesus is the resurrected Lord.
-Stanley Hauerwas
The trumpet must sound. It is the loud summons of all the living and all the dead, to come and appear at the tribunal of Christ. At this summons the graves shall open, the dead saints shall rise incorruptible, and the living saints be changed to the same incorruptible state.
-Matthew Henry, 17th c.
[Death] took a body and came upon God!
It took earth and encountered Ηeaven!
It took what it saw, but crumbled before what it had not seen!
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
-St. John Chrysostom, 4th c.
Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Liturgy bulletin link
Sermon transcript link
“Don’t Die” preached by Rev. Dr. Timothy R. LeCroy, Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 10:00AM at New Life Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY. Come see the beautiful Finger Lakes region, and worship God with us. www.newlifeithaca.org.
Sermon music is from “We Will Feast in the House of Zion” provided by Sandra McCracken and with her permission. www.sandramccracken.com.