Where, Oh Death, Is Thy Victory?

Oh Death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55, KJV)

I've often said that if I were to ever teach a philosophy class my very first lesson would be about the consequences of ideas. Take an idea, or a philosophy, doctrine, whatever, and follow it to its ultimate logical end. Where does it lead? Obviously, a practice such as this may require a great deal of speculation as certain things are difficult to foresee, but the point of it is to force you to think carefully and critically about ideas that you might adhere to.

When it comes to the Gospel, the implications are far greater than anything else we can possibly imagine. Many things can be inspiring. Great music can move us to tears, the emergence of great men and women through difficult trials inspire us to persevere, and simply falling in love with someone can cause us to do do a great many things that we would never have done before. But there is nothing more powerful than the Gospel itself, something that has moved more people to martyrdom than anything else in history.

That's because the Gospel does more than motivate to higher levels of living, it gives us a promise that prepares us for death. It may seem counter-intuitive, in a world about living "Your Best Life Now" or the "Promise Driven Life" that, perhaps more than anything else, Christianity prepares you for the life to come more than the life we're now in. In this way, Christianity is more about death than life.

That isn't to say Christians stand around waiting to die, or even volunteer for it. Instead it displaces our hope in the temporary things of this life to the eternal promises of the future. In this way, perhaps paradoxically, Christians are more motivated to carry on the work that God has called them to now than those who's focus is only on their current situation.

As C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity
Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven...
...Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "Thrown In"; aim at Earth and you will get neither.


As ideas go, then, this brings up some serious implications of its own. Christians, whether they be scholars and pastors, or lay-people, regular parishioners, or new to the faith, often quarrel amongst each other about the differing doctrines. But it's these doctrines which are so crucial to the faith that point us to Christ glorified in Heaven and in turn move us to serve one another in love.

More than that, it is our eyes cast upon Christ in Heaven that ultimately gives us hope. In a world in shambles, where families are torn apart by untold amounts of horror, what good is it to pour on the exhortations of good deeds, of self help, and of trying to live victoriously for ourselves. This leads us only to self righteousness and ultimately despair. Rather, our victory has already been accomplished for us, and in the end, that answers the deepest longings of our hearts. Through Christ's victory we can eagerly await the day of His return, and are ready to face the trials and temptations the world throws our way, even to the point of death. True confidence, courage, and hope lies ultimately not in ourselves, or anything we have or do, but that which has already been accomplished for us.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:20-21)