THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
I Corinthians 15:12-34
S: Resurrection
C: Essence of Christian Faith
Pr: BELIEVING IN THE RESURRECTION IS ESSENTIAL.
?: Why?
KW: Reasons
TS: We will find in our study of I Corinthians 15: 12-34 three reasons why believing in the resurrection is essential for the Christian.
Type: Propositional
The ____ reason why the resurrection is essential is the…
I. CONSEQUENCES (12-19)
II. DESIGN (20-28)
III. INCENTIVE (29-34)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Don’t compromise on the essentials
• Realize His life means we have life eternal
• Live in preparation to the eternal
Version: ESV
RMBC 10 April 05 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Death: A Great Loss
There was great loss in the entertainment world recently. The man who wrote the song "Hokey Pokey" died. What was really horrible is that they had trouble keeping the body in the casket.
They’d put his left leg in.....well you know the rest.
Seriously though, there have been a lot of people of notoriety whose life has come to an end recently…
Terry Schaivo
Johnny Cochran
Bishop Edmund Head
Prince Ranier of Monaco
and, of course…
Pope John Paul II
When one dies that is known to us or we feel particularly close to, it tends to sober us up, doesn’t it?
It makes us uneasy.
We don’t want this to be the end of our knowing them.
You see…
No one wants death to have the last word.
ILL Resurrection: Dillow
It was 14 years ago, on Feb. 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, that Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. It stated that her son, Clayton Carpenter, Private 1st Class, had stepped on a mine in Kuwait and was dead.
Ruth Dillow later wrote, "I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I wept. For 3 days I expressed anger and loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great."
But 3 days after she received that message, the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, "Mom, it’s me. I’m alive." Ruth Dillow said, "I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice, and he really was alive." The message was all a mistake!
She said, "I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels, because my son whom I had thought was dead, was really alive. I’m sure none of you can even begin to understand how I felt."
TRANSITION:
You know, a story like that seems too good to be true.
How can that be?
For…
1. Resurrection is unbelievable.
When someone dies, that’s it.
None of us expect to turn on the news tomorrow and find out that the report of the death of John Paul II was a mistake.
It is not only unexpected, it is unbelievable.
This is why the resurrection of Jesus was unexpected.
Sure, He talked about it, but it was as if it went in one ear and out the other to His listeners.
This type of thing did not normally happen.
2. The struggle to believe in the resurrection is not new (12).
We find that Paul begins this portion with…
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
At first, the Corinthians accepted his teaching on the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
This was the core of his teaching as we noted on Resurrection Sunday (two weeks ago).
But then, there was an infiltration of false teachers who taught doctrine that was contrary to Paul’s.
They said that there was an afterlife, but no new body would come with it.
Instead, one lives as a disembodied spirit, like a ghost.
This was a belief that reflected their Greek heritage.
It was Plato that taught the concept of dualism,
This concept teaches that everything spiritual is intrinsically good, while that which is physical and material was intrinsically evil.
So, a dualist didn’t want a body.
They wanted the perfection of the spiritual.
This line of thought was unacceptable to Paul, because it is unacceptable to the Christian faith.
Why?
Because Jesus did the unthinkable.
He did the unexpected.
He did the unbelievable.
He raised from the dead.
He raised from the dead with a body.
This being so, dualism is untrue.
For the Christian, then…
3. BELIEVING IN THE RESURRECTION IS ESSENTIAL.
The resurrection changed everything.
Rooted in history, it is the defining event of the church.
And when Jesus appeared, it changed everything.
These true blue Jewish folk began to depart from the traditions that they grew up with because they were finding freedom from the law.
They began worshipping on Sunday rather than the traditional Sabbath day of Saturday.
And the church began to grow rapidly.
Why?
Because they had been changed by the truth of the resurrection.
So…
4. We will find in our study of I Corinthians 15: 12-34 three reasons why believing in the resurrection is essential for the Christian.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first reason why the resurrection is essential is the CONSEQUENCES (13-19).
You see, if the resurrection is not true, the consequences are devastating for the Christian.
(13) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. (14) And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (15) We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. (16) For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. (17) And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (18) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (19) If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
If the resurrection is not true, then…
1. Christ is not risen.
If this is an absolute, and the dead cannot rise, then one must conclude that Christ cannot have been raised.
He did not appear after His death.
And if He did appear, He was no better than a ghost.
It was on the strength of the imagination of His followers that He was touched and ate with them.
If the resurrection is not true, then…
2. The gospel is meaningless.
Without the resurrection, the good news is more accurately described as the bad news.
We do not have a message of hope.
All we speak is meaningless nonsense.
If the resurrection is not true, then…
3. Faith is worthless.
Our faith is based on the dead, not the living.
This is an awful consequence, since a dead Savior can not give life.
If the resurrection is not true, then…
4. Believers are liars.
The testimony of Jesus was a lie.
And all his followers lied to us.
They made false claims.
They were lying witnesses.
And then, these people died to preserve the lie.
If the resurrection is not true, then…
5. We are still in our sins.
Death won the victory over Christ.
And if this is true, death still holds power over humanity.
Jesus did not bring the forgiveness of sins.
There is no salvation.
There is no reconciliation.
There is no peace with God.
If the resurrection is not true, then…
6. Former believers have perished.
Their faith was in vain.
What we know as the Hall of faith would be the Hall of foolish (MacArthur).
Thus all believers of all ages would have believed for nothing, lived for nothing, and died for nothing.
And, if the resurrection is not true, then…
7. Christians are to be pitied.
What we do, then, is pointless.
There is no Savior.
There is no forgiveness.
There is no gospel.
There is no meaningful faith.
There is no life and there is no hope.
These are the consequences of a so-called Christian faith that does believe in the resurrection.
II. The second reason why the resurrection is essential is the DESIGN (20-28).
It is God’s design and plan.
(20) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (21) For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (23) But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (24) Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every 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. (27) For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. (28) When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
There is no way I can do justice to this text as a whole, so I have narrowed it down to two important truths.
First…
1. God has a plan of a Redeemer.
In God’s plan, Jesus is the firstfruits of resurrection power.
He was the first to do so, representing all that were to come.
He is the first of the crop, so to speak, with a harvest to follow.
This means that His resurrection requires our resurrection.
To take this further, Paul draws a parallel between Adam and Christ.
In Adam, all have inherited a sin nature and therefore will die.
In Christ, all who believe in Him have inherited eternal life.
If we remain in Adam, we are born once.
If we remain in Christ, we are born again.
And these are our two choices.
We are either in Adam or in Christ.
Our life here on earth is our only opportunity.
We choose now.
There is no praying for the dead.
There is no second chance.
When we cease our earthly existence, the end has come, and our eternity is determined.
This is why it is so important to make that good choice now, for the second truth is that…
2. God has a design of restoration.
When the end comes, all things will be restored as they were originally designed and created to be.
Sin will be no more.
God will reign supremely, without enemy, and without challenge.
Every enemy will be conquered, especially death.
By conquering His own death, it is absolutely and irrevocably abolished.
III. The third reason why the resurrection is essential is the INCENTIVE (29-34).
It motivates us.
(29) Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? (30) Why am I in danger every hour? (31) I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! (32) What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (33) Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (34) Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
It is at this point, we have an unusual verse, which at first appearance doesn’t seem to belong in this text, or the Bible as a whole.
It seems to presume a legitimate practice of baptizing for the dead.
I don’t believe that is really the point, but I will admit it looks that way with the initial reading.
First, though let me reveal what I think Paul’s ultimate point is.
1. The resurrection causes us to be serious about people’s salvation.
At the very least, it appears that there were some in the church at Corinth that were practicing baptism of the dead by proxy.
In other words, some were being baptized in the hopes of reclaiming the lives of those that died without Christ.
In our times, we know that the Mormons do this.
In the early church, it seems only heretical groups were doing it.
We do know that it does not fit the rest of the teaching Scripture.
For example, in Ephesians 2:8 it says…
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Thus, there is no way one can put forth any work or any effort to save someone.
One is saved by grace, not by works.
Personally, my view is that Paul is once again employing sarcasm.
It has something he has done repeatedly in this letter.
He is not condoning the practice, but rather he communicates that he knows the practice was occurring.
And what they are doing is absurd in light of the truth of the resurrection.
The people that were practicing this were also the same people who denied the resurrection.
So mockingly he says, why bother?
You are contradicting your own belief system, thus making your own practice irrelevant.
John MacArthur thinks differently about this passage.
He believes the wording should be “because of” as opposed to what the ESV translates “on behalf”.
Because the New Testament equates a believer as a baptized believer (there are no other kinds), Paul may have been simply saying that people were being saved (baptism being the sign) because of the exemplary lives and witness of faithful believers who had died.
This is a plausible explanation as well.
Regardless, though, people were moved to action because of salvation.
The resurrection does that to you.
Also…
2. We are willing to serve because of our future hope.
As we noted in last week’s study, we so often choose the easy way.
Our western culture often has in its thinking the unwillingness to suffer the slightest inconvenience.
But through the centuries, this has not been the case for true Christians.
They have been willing to endure through hard times and make the sacrifices that were needed.
And what makes Christians willing to suffer, to be abused and ridiculed was the work of Christ.
Our hope is not in the convenience of earthly life.
We serve a living God who has it all in His hands.
Even earthly death does not scare us, for we are securely in His hands.
So…
3. We desire to be right with God.
Paul includes these last verses, both as an incentive and a warning.
Because the resurrection is true, we are to live holy lives.
We are to think righteously and we are to act righteously.
But Paul also is warning us that people who think wrongly invariably behave wrongly.
Bad company teaches there is no resurrection from the dead.
The idea that “matter doesn’t matter” fosters immoral behavior because it doesn’t matter what I do to my body here.
So Paul’s warning encourages us to not allow heresy to mislead and corrupt us.
APPLICATION:
ILL Resurrection: professor at Asbury
A professor asked his class at Asbury Theological Seminary, “Raise your hand if you’d still be a Christian if an archaeologist discovered the tomb and body of Jesus and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was still dead. There’s no question about it. He was not resurrected. How many of you would still be Christians?”
A few hands went up.
At that point the professor yelled, “Liberals!”
Perhaps he could have said “heretics” as well.
Let’s be firm here.
1. Don’t compromise on the essentials of the faith.
The resurrection is an essential.
Our faith is based on it.
No matter how unbelievable or impossible it may seem.
It is the very foundation of what we believe.
Any teaching that makes the resurrection a lesser thing is a direct attack on the basis of faith.
So, in turn…
2. Be thankful, for the resurrection of Jesus means we will be resurrected too.
We have true hope, not blind hope, about our future.
We don’t need what the world says we need in order to be happy.
We have the joy of knowing our eternity is taken care of.
ILL Preparation: prepare yourself
A salesman was assigned to secure an important client but failed in his mission.
He faxed his secretary and asked her to break the news indirectly to his boss. His note read, "Failed in securing client, prepare the boss."
He received the following fax from his secretary: "The boss is prepared...prepare yourself."
We need to be prepared.
We are not to live carelessly and apathetically.
So…
3. Live carefully in preparation for the eternal.
What God has prepared for us is wonderful and too hard to describe for words.
We should not be ungrateful, but instead in appreciation, lay up our treasures in heaven, investing in the kingdom, demonstrating our unending love for Him.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Blomberg, Craig, The NIV Application Commentary
MacArthur, John, I Corinthians
SermonCentral:
“The Gravity of the Empty Grave” Joel Smith
“The Certainty of Christ’s Bodily Resurrection” Doug Goins
“The Reliable Resurrection” Micah Fries
“Life Triumphant” Steve Zeisler
“Remember the Resurrection” Joel Pankow
“Christ is Risen!” Roy Fowler
