1st Corinthians 15:1-11
It would be no understatement to say that our entire faith system hinges on the resurrection. Christian historian Jaroslav Pelikan said, “If Christ is risen–then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen–then nothing else matters.” If the resurrection is true, then we have hope for eternity. But, if the resurrection is not true, then we have hope for nothing.
If you haven’t read the book, “The Case for Christ,” by Lee Strobel, I would highly recommend picking it up. They made a movie out of it as well, and we watched it with our girls a few weeks back, so if you don’t like reading, just check out the movie. Lee Strobel was a legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, and was a staunch atheist. His wife became a Christian, and in his frustration, he set out to disprove her faith. A co-worker of his suggested that he start with the resurrection, because if he could disprove the resurrection, then it would be that much easier to disprove everything else. He approached it like a legal case, interviewing various experts in the fields of history, theology, medicine and psychology. Along the way, he examined archaeological findings, manuscript evidence, eyewitness accounts, and medical analysis of the crucifixion. Finally, the evidence became too overwhelming, and in a powerful moment, Lee prays, “alright God, you win.” His journey is documented in the book.
The resurrection is something that we must be sure of. We cannot waiver on our belief in it, for our entire faith rests in its reality.
Big Idea: The Gospel should carry primary importance in our lives.
Read 1st Corinthians 15:1-11
1. The Importance of the Gospel (1-2)
This section is a response to a specific concern that had been brought to Paul’s attention. In verse 12, we see that some members of the church were denying the resurrection of Jesus. And so he takes their minds back to the first time that they heard the gospel. “Let me remind you,” Paul says, “of the gospel I preached to you.” It had only been a year or 2 since Paul was there during his 2nd missionary journey, but already they had forgotten the power of the gospel in their lives.
This is so true of us today. It’s so easy to get distracted, to get caught up in the daily grind of life. Add to that the epidemic of social media and doom scrolling, and very quickly life becomes this monotonous routine that we wake up from 20 years down the road and wonder where our life went. We must get in the habit of preaching the gospel to ourselves daily, lest we forget. And this is difficult. The longer we walk this road of faith, the further we get away from our moment of salvation, the harder it is to remember. But here’s the thing: If we only think of the gospel as something that changed my life in the past, then we don’t understand the gospel.
Paul says it right here in verse 2. “The gospel by which you are being saved.” This is a present tense saving. The gospel is presently and daily saving us. This is what we call “progressive sanctification.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 - “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
2 Corinthians 7:1 - “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
Philippians 1:6 - “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
There is a process by which we are being conformed into the image of Jesus, a process that is progressively and daily saving us from ourselves.
Professor and theologian Clint Arnold describes it like this: “Through every trial, every difficulty, every hurt and every blessing, God is presently saving the Christian, conforming him more and more to the image of Christ. He is saving us so that our time on this earth will be meaningful and profitable. The gospel does save us and is saving us right now. We need the gospel today as much as we needed it the day we were first saved.”
But it is this gospel that saves us. It saved us when we confessed Jesus as Lord, it is presently saving us through sanctification, and it will one day save us into the presence of Jesus for the rest of eternity. There is nothing more important than the gospel. In case the Corinthians still didn’t get it, Paul reminds them.
2. The Substance of the Gospel (3-7)
What Paul is about to tell them is “of first importance.” In other words, there is nothing of greater importance than this. And this is still true today. There is absolutely nothing in this world that holds more weight than the gospel.
A. Christ Died for Our Sins (According to the Scriptures) (3)
In the theological world this is what we call the substitutionary atonement. To put it simply, Jesus died as our substitute. Paul tells us in Romans 3 that all of humanity are sinners, and in Romans 6 that the punishment for our sin is death, which implies an eternal separation from God. If nothing changes, then this remains our reality. BUT, Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 5:21 that “for our sake, (for the sake of humanity), God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” The death that Jesus died on the cross, in our place, was the only way.
1 Peter 2:24 - “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
And all of this was “according to the Scriptures,” specifically Isaiah chapter 53. And the next element is crucial as well.
B. Christ Was Buried (4a)
This is a very important element of the gospel, because the burial proves that Jesus was in fact dead. There are many theories out there that try to discredit the resurrection. Some people say that the disciples stole the body of Jesus. Eyewitness testimony would debunk that. Some say that Jesus just passed out from the pain of the crucifixion, but was not really dead. The 3 days in the tomb would have ensured that He was in fact dead. Jesus died on that cross, the Romans made sure that it was so. Joseph and Nicodemus buried Him in that tomb, and for 3 days His body lay lifeless.
C. Christ Was Raised (4b)
But then, God breathed air back into His lungs, and He stood up, victorious over sin and death. I don’t want to give away too much of Brian’s message next week, but maybe a bit of foreshadowing wouldn’t hurt. Read 1st Corinthians 15:14-19.If the resurrection is not true, then our faith means nothing, our preaching is pointless, we are lying about God, we are still enslaved to our sin, death is the end, we are hopeless and we are to be pitied.
But thank God that we know that the resurrection really happened. Praise God that we have a Savior who not only died in our place, but now lives, seated at the right hand of God, pleading with Him on our behalf. And how do we know it’s true? Yes the deep conviction in our souls that it is, but we also have proof.
D. Christ Appeared (5-7)
This list is not exhaustive, we know that because there are women mentioned in the Gospels who were some of the first to see Jesus resurrected. In fact, there are 10 different appearances mentioned in the Gospels and here in 1st Corinthians. Now the importance of these witnesses can be summed up from the pen of one commentator, who says, “All human laws assume that the testimony of two witnesses, when uncontradicted, and especially when confirmed by collateral evidence, produces such conviction of the truth of the fact asserted as to justify even taking the life of a fellow-creature.”
These eyewitness testimonies are the key. When Paul was writing this, there were some still alive that had bore witness to him, who saw Jesus post-resurrection. In fact, he appeared to 500 men at once, and a majority were still alive and could testify to the truth of this claim. When Paul wrote this it had been just over 20 years since Jesus was resurrected. The fact that this letter was written, confirmed by historical accounts, around 55 AD, and had an account of hundreds of witnesses that testified to the truth of a resurrected Jesus, creates a reality that is hard to dispute. Paul himself experienced something similar.
3. The Power of the Gospel (8-11)
“Last of all, as one untimely born.” Most of Jesus’ followers had spent significant time with Him. But Paul had not. In fact, Paul had been a great persecutor of the church. We saw him in Acts chapter 7 standing by and approving of the stoning of Stephen. We saw in chapter 8 of Acts that Paul was going town to town and door to door arresting Christians and throwing them in prison. This is why he says he is so unworthy to be mentioned in the same sentence as the apostles.
But then he was walking one day, on his way to find more Christians to persecute, and he had a supernatural encounter with Jesus. Jesus showed up and radically changed Paul’s life. The resurrected Jesus showed up on a dusty road to Damascus to put an end to Paul’s sin, and bring him into a relationship with Himself. Not only that, but he would go on to use Paul as the greatest missionary in the history of the world.
He took a murderous, hate-filled Pharisee and transformed him into the greatest influencer the church has ever seen. Even so, Paul says “it was never anything that I did, but the Holy Spirit working through me.”
Application
The Corinthian church had lost sight of this. They had become so chaotic in their worship, and had become so obsessed with their spiritual gifts, that the thing that mattered most had become a fleeting memory. More important than anything else, is the Gospel. It is the difference between life and death. And the truth of the Gospel hinges on the resurrection. Romans 10:9 says “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Salvation includes a belief in the validity of the resurrection. Without the resurrection there is no hope, there is no future, there is no purpose. Without the resurrection there is no victory over sin, and no victory over death. The resurrection must be one of the most solidified truths in our souls.
This is why Paul is going to spend a whole chapter focusing their minds, and in turn our minds, on the resurrection.
And here’s what I believe the Lord has for us this morning. When the Corinthians lost sight, Paul brought their minds back to the Gospel. Maybe that’s us this morning. Maybe we have forgotten the power of the gospel in our lives. Maybe we have become so complacent, so busy, so numb in our lives, that we have lost sight of that which matters most. If that’s you this morning, my prayer would be that the reminder that we have from Paul would recenter our hearts and minds on the gospel. My prayer is that maybe for the first time you would see the beauty of the gospel and submit your life to Jesus.
