04-20-03 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

1 Corinthinans 15:55-58

Paul is finishing up this chapter that proves the power and importance of the first resurrection, and that, which is yet to come, so the little guy confidently bows up here in verse 55, and taunts death.

(v.55-58) O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory? The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law. But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

When Jesus made that triumphal, final entry into Jerusalem, the multitudes greeting Him cried, "Hosanna; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," and we translate the word "Hosanna" as "save us now, we pray." When Jesus was arrested without incident, it suddenly became apparent to the "save us now" crowd that He was not the conquering Savior they were hoping for. Instant gratification has always been Satan's appeal, not the Lord's. The people of Judea were looking for deliverance from poverty, from Roman oppression, and from their immediate troubles. When Jesus didn't fit the bill, they rejected Him, they tortured Him, and they crucified Him. They were spiritually blinded, but we're not. We know what He did for us.

A long time ago, on a windy day in the Kansas prairie, there was a young boy who was kicking, throwing and running around catching his football all by himself near some small trees, when suddenly he feels a sting on his arm. As he looks down to see the cause of the pain, out of the corner of his eye he sees a honeybee fall to the ground. The pain (from his first ever bee sting) yields temporarily to a curiosity over the bee's fate, and the boy kneels down to get a closer look at his tiny attacker. He watches in amazement as the bee dies, and then looking again at his arm, he notices the stinger with its venom sack still attached, still pumping the poison after the bee has already died, and he runs into the house to see "Mom" for some first aid.

Thirty years pass by, and this same "boy" is eating dessert and having a conversation with a young girl when she voices her hope that there will be chocolate in heaven. Well, Jesus was hungry after His resurrection, and His disciples gave Him broiled fish and honeycomb to eat, so the conversation somehow got around to honeybees. This "boy" related to her the story of that bee sting, and she immediately remarked, "Maybe that bee was acting like Jesus, sacrificing itself for the rest of the bees." Now, in and of itself that was an awesome insight for a ten year old, but her words had an even more powerful effect on "this boy." You see, I hadn't even told her about "the rest of the bees," because I had forgotten about them.

After Mom finished up doing whatever Moms do to bee stings, I went back outside to get my football, and it was then that I noticed the colony of bees in one of those small trees. Thirty years after the fact, an insightful ten-year-old reminded me of the reason why that bee stung me. Honeybees only sting when they're provoked or their hive is threatened, and that bee stung me on my throwing arm! Well, it worked. When it stung me I was running full speed, but I stopped dead in my tracks, which were headed directly for that little tree full of bees, and I didn't throw my football around that tree anymore. That bee gave up its life with the intention that the whole colony might be saved. And by stopping me in my tracks, that singular, selfless, sacrificial act may have prevented me from stumbling into a whole lot more of that venom.

In the Garden of Eden, one selfish act allowed the stinger of sin to pierce this world, and the curse of death was pumped right in. The wages of sin is death, but as a gift to us, one unselfish act by Jesus defeated that curse. Death has no power without sin. Jesus was manifested to take away our sins and redeem us from the curse of the law. Let us give thanks to God, and be reminded today, that we are winners through our Lord Jesus Christ. Lock this victory inside your heart, put on your armor against the darts of sin, become a fountain of living water, and be confident that the gratification, the reward of your labor is not instant, and therefore it is not in vain, but it is eternal.