"Is This All There Is"

1 Corinthians 15:12-34
"If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'" (vs 32).

There is an older pop song, you may or may not remember or have heard it - because it was before your time for most that are reading this :) The song had this refrain, "If that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing, let's bring out the booze, and have a ball, if that's all there is...." This is what the Apostle Paul is saying in this Scripture. His premise is likely different than that of Peggy Lee's rendition of, "Is This All There Is?"; but the conclusion is the same.

Peggy is singing about the tragedies of life that have befallen the subject of the song. She is lamenting that if all there is to this life on earth is heartache, sorrow, and suffering, then - why not - why not just 'live it up'? Who cares? Why not just live with reckless abandon with a lifetime of partying?

Paul is saying - if all there is, is this EARTHLY life; if there is not eternal life after this earthly body is dead, if there is no resurrection unto glorified bodies, living forever with Jesus....then why risk my life in fighting wild beasts....in risking my life for Christ? Paul says, if Christ was not raised from the dead, and thus you and I looking forward to being raised up (after this earthly life) with Christ - to live forever with Him...then, let's just continually fill our fleshly, earthly appetites; like eating and drinking until we die!

Of course, Paul is speaking rhetorically - he is chastising/rebuking those of his day who once heard and believed of Christ's resurrection, but were carried away by other (false) teachings and started believing that there was no resurrected Christ, and that neither would they be resurrected.

And so, the Lord says to us. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. As read in the Word (even vs 1-11), believe the Jesus Christ as recorded in Scripture. Believe in the testimonies of not only those who saw Jesus first hand (as recorded in Scripture) but believe present day testimonies of the saints (that is you and I who are saved!) of how God has worked in and through their (our) lives! Don't live today as if this is 'all there is.' Don't squander your lives with drinking, partying, fulfilling earthly appetites...wasting the precious life God has given you today - for the sake of Christ and others who need Jesus!

In eternity, our lives on this earth will matter. They matter today but they also matter for ETERNITY!

"Oh God, please forgive me for the ways I've squandered, lived less than who You created me to be. For the ways in which I've lived that have said, "this is all there is", instead of 'my life matters, my life counts, I count for today and for eternity...for God!' Lord, help us today to see the ways in which we are living for the things of this earth alone, rather than for You. Thank You Lord. Help us by Your Spirit. We need You today...be glorified Lord. Thank You."