Why the
Resurrection?
1 Corinthians 15:
12 – 26
Introduction
What
a great day to worship the Risen Lord!
It is probably no surprise that I love Easter. After all, I am a pastor…And pastors are
supposed to love Easter. It is the one
Sunday when everyone shows up on the same Sunday. Some people come to church on the first and
third Sundays. Some people come to
church on the second and fourth Sunday.
Some people come to church on the fifth Sunday. Some people come to church on the Blue
Moon. But, everyone adjusts their
schedule to come to church on Easter.
What is there not to like about a full church on Easter Sunday.
I
also love Easter, because it is our Holy Day.
At Christmas time, some Christians fight against the world’s attempt to
steal our Holy Day from us. They have
changed the greeting, “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s
Greetings.” That’s not the case with
Easter. The Post Office and the banks
take Christmas Day off as a holiday.
Again, that’s not the case with Easter.
Of course, you could argue that Easter is always on a Sunday, when the
Post Office and the banks are already closed.
But, they didn’t take off on Good Friday! Mail delivery and banking went through as
normal on Good Friday. And, I think that
is a good thing. It tells us that Easter
is for Christians. This is not a holiday
for everyone. In fact, Easter is more
than a holiday. Easter is a Christian
Holy Day.
There
are several reasons why people come to church on Easter Sunday. Some people come to church, because they have
been coming to church all their lives and cannot imagine spending Easter
anywhere else. Some people come to
church out of respect. (You are here
because you don’t want to offend your wife, your mother or your friend who
invited you.) And some people don’t
really know why you have come today.
(Maybe you have been hurt by a church in the past and do not want to continue
to expose yourself to pain. Or perhaps
you have serious doubts about the Christian faith but you are here to have an
open mind and to think critically / logically about who Jesus is.)
Earlier
today, we witnessed the ordinance of Baptism.
As Baptist Christians, we have an unusual method of baptism. We do not sprinkle or pour water. We completely immerse a person under the
water, because we believe baptism is a picture of what Jesus has done for
us. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was buried. Then, Jesus was Resurrected.
During
that baptism, I read a verse of Scripture from Romans 10: 9. This one verse describes what it takes to
become a Christian.
Romans 10: 9, “That if you confess with
your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved.”
This
is the main thing that separates the Christian faith from all other world
religions. Religion at its basic level
is a human attempt to please God / earn God’s favor / satisfy God’s
requirements. As Christians, we do not
believe our human efforts to reach out to God will ever be good enough. Instead, we believe God has already
accomplished salvation for us through the life, death and Resurrection of
Jesus. God simply asks us to believe God
raised Jesus from the dead and to confess Jesus is Lord.
The
Resurrection of Jesus is part of the Gospel message. In fact, I would go so far as to insist that
believing in the Resurrection of Jesus is necessary for a person to become a
Christian. There is no form of
Christianity that does not believe in a living Christ. Christian faith requires belief in a literal,
historical and bodily Resurrection
The
word “Gospel” means “Good News.” Every
human is guilty of sin. We are affected
by a sinful nature. And, we commit
individual acts of rebellion against God
by breaking his Law. The only way for a
human to have relationship with God in the present and in the future is for God
to forgive us our sins. God does not ask
us to become good enough to earn forgiveness of sin. God offers forgiveness and eternal life to
anyone who believes that Jesus provides forgiveness and life.
Forgiveness
of sin is Good News… However, the
crucifixion of Jesus cannot be Good News if there were no Resurrection. Crucifixion was ordinary. It happened all the time. In fact, Jesus was neither the first nor the
last person to claim to be Messiah who was crucified by the Romans. That is what ordinarily happened when someone
claimed to be the Messiah. The Romans
crucified them. What makes Jesus
different from all the others before and after him is that crucifixion was not
the end of Jesus’ story. Crucifixion
without Resurrection would make Jesus like every other man who claimed to be
the Messiah. Crucifixion without
Resurrection would have been a failure and a sad ending to the story of Jesus
and the hopes of Israel / Twelve Disciples.
Resurrection Fulfills Scripture…
1 Corinthians 15: 3 – 8, “3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that
he was raised on the third day according
to the Scriptures, 5 and
that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more
than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still
living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all
the apostles, 8 and
last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally
born.”
In
these verses, the Apostle Paul insists that his preaching to the Corinthian
Christians is the same Christian message which has been preached sine the very
beginning. Paul preaches a confession of
faith that contains four parts…
Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures…
Christ was buried… Christ was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… Christ appeared to eyewitnesses…
There
are a couple of important things in these verses.
First,
Paul makes a point to say that both the crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus
were prophesied in the Old Testament. (The
sermons in the Book of Acts preached by Peter and Paul cite numerous Scriptures
from the Old Testament that prophesy about Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection.)
Second,
the Resurrection is a historical event which meets all the criteria as
authentic history. There were multiple
eyewitnesses (probably around 600), and Paul invites his audience to
investigate this for themselves by interviewing the living eyewitnesses
themselves. AND, there is documentary
evidence written within one generation of the Resurrection of Jesus. (Letters of Paul written between AD 53 and
60. The Gospel of Mark written around AD
70. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke written
between AD 75 – 90. The Gospel of John written
between AD 90 – 100.)
Resurrection Gives Meaning to Life…
1 Corinthians 15: 12 – 19, “12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the
dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even
Christ has been raised. 14 And
if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless
and so is your faith. 15 More
than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have
testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But
he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not
raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile;
you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in
Christ are lost. 19 If
only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than
all men.”
If
the Resurrection of Jesus never happened, then the Christian faith is one big
lie. We are lying to the world, and we
are lying to ourselves. Our preaching is
meaningless. Our faith is meaningless. Our lives are meaningless.
But,
if the Resurrection of Jesus is true, then the Christian faith is the only
thing that makes sense. The Christian
faith makes sense, because it is logically consistent; and because it provides
us with the only meaningful explanation for why things are the way they are.
We
can interpret verses 17 – 19 as comparison and contrast…
If
Jesus has not been raised, then our faith is futile. But, if Jesus has been raised, then faith is
of great value.
If
Jesus has not been raised, then we are still in our sins. But, if Jesus has been raised, then our sins
have been forgiven. Jesus has provided
the remedy for our sins and has released us from our slavery to our sin nature.
If
Jesus has not been raised, then those who have already died are lost / annihilated. But, if Jesus has been raised, then those who
have died believing in Jesus are experiencing life in the presence of God / in
our Father’s House.
If
Jesus has not been raised, then this life is all we have to hope for. (This life is dominated by sin and sickness,
death, cancer, brokenness, natural disasters…)
But, if Jesus has been raised, then this life is not all there is. God has something better in store for us just
as God had something better in store for Jesus.
If Jesus has been raised, then there is a world where sin and sickness,
death and disaster do not have the final word.
Resurrection Promises Eternal Life…
1 Corinthians 15: 20 – 26, “20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have
fallen asleep. 21 For
since death came through a man, the resurrection of the
dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made
alive. 23But
each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when
he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands
over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed
all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all
his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Notice
that Paul affirms the Resurrection of Jesus here and then uses the Resurrection
of Jesus to point toward a second Resurrection.
Jesus’ Resurrection is only the first Resurrection. Jesus was raised as the “firstfruit” of
Resurrection. The “firstfruit” was the
first part of the harvest. The “firstfruit”
was not the end of the harvest. Instead,
it indicated that there was more to come.
In the same way, the Resurrection of Jesus indicates that there is more
to come. Everyone who believes in Jesus
will also experience Resurrection and eternal life in the presence of God.
Paul
gives us a vivid description of this eternal life by personifying Death as a
personal enemy. Death is the enemy of
God and the enemy of humanity. Plato
said that Death is a welcome friend who releases our good spirit from the
prison of our evil body. Paul said that
Death is not your friend. Death is your
enemy. But, Death is a defeated enemy. Because of the Resurrection of Jesus, we no
longer have to fear Death. Death cannot
threaten us. Death does not get the
final word. Jesus gets the final word…Because
Jesus was raised, those who believe in Jesus will also be raised.
Conclusion
Easter
Sunday is more than a holiday for Christians.
In one sense, Easter is the day we remember the moment in history when
Jesus was raised from the grave. Yet,
Easter is more than just a day we set aside to commemorate a historical
event. Easter is more than that, because
the Resurrection is more than a historical event. The Resurrection is a historical event which
has changed the world. There was a
moment in the past when the Resurrection happened. That past event has changed the present and
the future. Nothing will ever be the
same again.
A
wonderful part of the Easter story is not that Resurrection is possible. It is that Resurrection is impossible. We are here today, because God can do the
impossible…Because God has done the impossible.
Historically,
it is hard to make a case against the truth of the Resurrection. After all, there were 600 eyewitnesses and
more documentary evidence than most ancient history.
However,
there are two very strong objections to the Resurrection. First, the Resurrection is such an unusual
event that it has never been repeated.
(Of course, just because an event has never been repeated does not mean
it never happened in the first place.)
Second, if the Resurrection actually happened, it requires that I must
live my life differently.
I
must believe that Jesus really is who he said he is…The Son of God…The Savior…
I
must live with Jesus as the Lord of my life…No other philosophical or political
belief system carries as much power or authority as Jesus… There is no other master / no other Lord.
I
must live with the knowledge that there is more to life than what I can experience
through my senses…
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