Sunday, April 26, 2009: Why the Resurrection Is Important

Why the Resurrection Is Important
1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 28

I. Introduction

Two of the blind men that Jesus healed in the Gospels met at the market one day. Each man was thrilled to finally meet another person who had also been healed by Jesus. They talked about the wonder of sight, the color of flowers, the beauty of butterflies, the glory of sunrises, finally being able to see the faces of their own children and grandchildren. They talked about the wonder of having seen the face of Jesus. They were laughing and having a great time together, when one of them said, "And do you remember how Jesus took that mud, spit on it, and put it into your eye?"

The other fellow looked kind of stunned, and answered, "Why no, he simply said, 'Receive your sight,' and I could see." The first fellow said, "Wait a minute - now just wait a minute here. You mean he didn't use any mud?" "No." "Well, did he at least have you wash in the pool of Siloam?" "No…Of course not…who has ever heard of anything so ridiculous as mud in your eye?!"

"Well," said the first man, "if he didn't put mud in your eyes and have you wash in the pool of Siloam, then you are still blind! Blind - do your hear me? Because that's the way Jesus healed me; that's the way he does it!"

Then the second man began to get angry. He shouted, "Mud, mud, mud! Who ever heard of using mud?! That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! You still have mud in your eyes. You're the one who's still blind!"

They got into a big argument…Their relationship was destroyed…And right then and there, they formed the first two Christian denominations: the Mudites and the Antimudites!

I once heard Frank Pollard tell this story just a little differently. He said that there were three ways that Jesus healed the blind in the Bible: He touched, he used spit and he used mud. Dr. Pollard said, “I’m surprised that today we don’t have Mudites, Spittites and Touchites.”

This is not technically the story of how denominations came into existence. But, it’s not that far off base. Don’t misunderstand me at this point…I am a Baptist through and through. However, I can admit that some of the reasons Christians have separated into denominations are secondary issues. Worship style, role of women in the church, election verses free will, even the amount of water to use in baptism. None of these are primary issues.

Yet, during the season of Easter, we focus on the primary issue of the Christian faith. There was a time in history when Jesus Christ, the One and Only Son of God, was crucified and resurrected on the third day.

The fact that Jesus rose again on the third day has affected us even today. The resurrection has eternal significance and theological importance that is perhaps best described by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul used this entire chapter to answer questions about the resurrection. He offered historical proof that the resurrection actually happened, theological meaning and how it applies to every Christian man and woman. I will not read all 58 verses this morning…

Read 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 28

Can you imagine what the Disciples must have been going through as they stood at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die the humiliating and agonizing death of crucifixion? They had given up everything to follow Jesus—and now it seemed they would lose it all. Surely, if Jesus really is the Son of God, God will intervene; God will come and rescue Jesus from the cross…But God did not! Where was God as his Son suffered and bled and died?

The Bible tells us that Jesus said seven things while he was hanging on the cross. In six of these seven, it was obvious that Jesus was in control. He told John to take care of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who nailed him to the cross. Jesus offered hope of eternal life to the thief on the cross. And he proclaimed the ultimate victory, when he shouted, “It is finished!” Even as he was being executed by the Roman government by hanging on the cross, Jesus was in control. Jesus only said one thing on the cross that sounded like a cry of anguish…My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

Does this mean that God had left Jesus alone? Had God abandoned his Only Begotten Son? Where was God when Jesus was dying on the cross?

According to the Apostle Paul, God was there. Paul tells us in Romans 5: 8, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…God was demonstrating his love in the death of Jesus.

The death of Jesus demonstrates God love for us, because the death of Jesus was the ONLY way God could have possible offered us forgiveness of sins. Jesus had to die in order to forgive us our sins.

There is an interesting thing about Forgiveness. Forgiveness comes as a response to a sin or a crime that was committed against another person. It is interesting that the guilty person CANNOT EARN OR ACHIEVE OR DESERVE forgiveness from the innocent person. Forgiveness is something that can only be offered as a gift by the innocent person.

When someone sins against us, we have three choices of how we can respond. First, we can simply FORGET about the sin committed against us and pretend that nothing has ever happened. Of course this is nothing more than ignoring the sin and gives the person permission to continue doing exactly what they did in the first place. But Forgetfulness is not the same thing as Forgiveness. (Now it is possible for us to Forgive and Forget, just as God tells us that he will cast our sins away as far as the East is from the West and will remember our sins no more. But Forgiveness must come first.)

Our second choice is to seek JUSTICE and give the guilty sinner exactly what he or she deserves. But Justice is not the same thing as Forgiveness.

The third choice is FORGIVENESS. And FORGIVENESS is only possible is the innocent person accepts the penalty and the consequences of the other person’s sins. Forgiveness is never cheap, because Forgiveness is a response to sin. And sin ALWAYS involves suffering. Either the sinner will justly suffer the consequences of his or her own sins, or the innocent will suffer and offer costly FORGIVENESS.

And that is why Jesus had to die on the Cross. You and I are guilty of sin and should rightfully face the consequences and suffer the penalty of our sins. When Jesus died on the Cross, God FORGAVE us by personally suffering the penalty of sin so that if we would just believe, we would not face the penalty of sin.

God demonstrated his love for us by accepting the consequences and penalties of sin so that we would not have to. The death of Jesus was necessary in order to provide FORGIVENESS. But salvation involves more than just FORGIVENESS. Salvation is FORGIVENESS of sins and the reward of ETERNAL LIFE.

This is the point that Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 15. We have forgiveness of sins because Jesus died for our sins. We have the promise of eternal life because Jesus rose again…


II. The Resurrection Reveals God

Through the Resurrection of Jesus, we can know God for who he really is…

The Bible teaches us that we can only know God by his actions…A good place to see this is in Exodus 33 where God told Moses that Moses could not look at him, but he could look at where God had been…In the same way, we can see God by looking at what God has done…

The Old Testament teaches us that the One True God is the God of Creation and the God Who brought his people out of Egypt…In the New Testament, we know that same God as the One who Raised Jesus from the Grave…

Death is the only thing that you and I will ever face that is truly irreversible. If you have ever lost someone you love, you know what I am talking about. Death is that point of no return where nothing we say and nothing we can possibly do can ever bring that loved one back to us.

There is no one else, besides God himself, who can bring a dead man back to life. You see, Jesus did not die on the cross so that it might become POSSIBLE for him to rise again. NO, Jesus died on the cross so that it might be IMPOSSIBLE for him to rise again. The Resurrection of Jesus is not a possibility. The Resurrection of Jesus is an impossibility…Yet, nothing is truly impossible for the God who is able to bring his own dead Son back to life again!


III. The Resurrection Demonstrates that Jesus Is the Son of God

Through the Resurrection of Jesus, we can know that Jesus really is who he claimed to be, the Only Begotten Son of God…

Our Faith would be worthless if Jesus has not been raised…Resurrection demonstrates that there is something different about Jesus…He is Unique…The Unique, Only Begotten Son of God…

Resurrection reveals exactly who it was that died on the cross…It was not just any ordinary man…It was the Son of God…It was God himself…If we say that Jesus died for our sins, then our faith is literally destroyed if Jesus was no different from us.


IV. The Resurrection Gives Us Eternal Life (vv. 17 – 23)

Through the Resurrection of Jesus, we can know that we have the promise of Eternal Life with Jesus in Heaven…

Paul said in verse 26… The last enemy to be destroyed is death…And again in verse 54 – 57… Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many of us are terrified of dying. This is a normal human fear. Most of what we do on a daily basis is an effort to avoid death…We breathe, because if we stop breathing, we die…We eat, because if we do not have food, we die…We take medicine, we go to the doctor, we have surgery, we wear our seat belts, we look both ways before crossing the street…Why? Because we do not want to die!

As living human beings, we have a natural-born instinct that teaches us Death is our enemy. We avoid death at all costs! But Paul tells us that through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, our enemy Death has been defeated once and for all!

There is no natural, human way for us to deal with our fear of death. We work as hard as we can possibly work to avoid death. And death continues to catch up with us. Every one of us will one day face death. There is no natural and human way to overcome death…But the resurrection of Jesus gives us the only way we can deal with death in a SUPERNATURAL and DIVINE way.


Read 1 Corinthians 15: 17 – 23

I like what Paul says in this passage about our salvation. If Jesus never rose again, then our forgiveness is meaningless. What good is forgiveness of sin, if there is no reward of Eternal Life?

We will share in the fate of our Lord Jesus…If he rose again, so will we…In this passage, Paul describes Jesus as the first fruit…Jesus was the first one to come back from the grave…Jesus was the first to experience Eternal Life…


V. Conclusion

"The Resurrection is an enormous answer to the problem of death," says Notre Dame theologian John Dunne. "The idea is that the Christian goes with Christ through death to everlasting life. Death becomes an event, like birth, that is lived through."
--Kenneth L. Woodward, "2000 Years of Jesus," Newsweek, March 29, 1999, 55.