Hope in Christ "only for this life"?

God’s word of Easter hope from 1 Corinthians 15 is glorious—hundreds of eyewitnesses confirming Christ’s resurrection, and as the “first-fruits” of victory over death the risen Lord prom­ises that all “who belong to him” will rise again to true, eternal life (v 23). This is “good news” (v 1)—the greatest news! But 15:19 still reverberates in my mind: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” Is it possible that we could fall back into that pitiful state?

“This life” stands in contrast to life beyond the grave (remember, you were made for forever, Eccl 3:11). Human experience includes our here-and-now “three score and ten” (or so) in which we walk this earth, but it also includes one’s eternal destiny (i.e., heaven or hell). All who are in Christ will put on imperishable, immortal resurrec­tion bodies for the everlasting joys of heaven (15:26, 54-57).

But what would it look like to hope in Christ “only for this life”? On the one hand, it would mean regarding Christ as being able to bring some relief of today’s troubles. But on the other hand, it would mean disre­gard­ing and devaluing (or even rejecting) his promise of resurrection life and all the wonders of heaven! How sad—pitiful, actually—that some at Corinth fell for this incomplete, twisted, unbiblical theology (vv 12-15).

In our day a hot trend in certain cutting edge church circles is to turn to Jesus for comfort and peace and justice and relief of earthly suffering. Sometimes this is called “kingdom” ministry (as if the kingdom of God had to do with improving our living situation here and now but had little or nothing to do with life after death). Frequently those who wave this flag think they’ve found the way to make Jesus “relevant” to a broken world. Typically they present Jesus as a model of radical justice and love to be followed, but not as the Sovereign Lord to be believed and worshipped. Commonly they divert the historic mission of the church from making disciples among all the people groups (Matt 28:18-20—loving whole people, body and soul) to meeting physical needs today.

God calls us to be discerning and courageous as we follow his Word, and thus refuse to limit Jesus’ message and ministry to present-world woes. Hoping in Christ only for this life would be pitiful! But can I point fingers without also being guilty of such offenses? Is the looming reality of heaven impinging every moment on my mind and my way of life? Is my hope in Christ riveted on the promise of resurrection? Or do I, too, shrink Jesus, ignore heaven, and live to maximize earthly comforts?

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