Strathalbyn Church of Christ

“If Christ has not been raised then… But in fact Christ has been raised”… 1 Corinthians 15: 1-28,58

In this message I’d like to conclude our recent series on the resurrection of Jesus Christ by looking at Paul’s teaching in his letter to the church at Corinth as we find it in 1 Cor 15: 1-28 and verse 58.

One of the things the coronavirus pandemic is doing is raising thought about what matters and what life might be like post covid 19.

In today’s bible reading we hear Paul tell us what really matters for the Christian believer and because of this what life can be like in the future.

So what really matters?

Paul puts it in terms of ‘first importance’ He says ‘For I delivered to you as of first importance…’ 1 Cor 15:3

‘First importance’ - so this is fundamentally important, this is no secondary thing! What is of ‘first importance’?

‘that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.’ 1 Cor 15:3-5

Why is this message of ‘first importance’? In short because of what it means now for this present life and for the future to come. Let’s think about this.

Now in this part of his letter and teaching Paul is focusing on the resurrection of Christ. Yes, he died on a cross first - ‘for our sins’ and that’s a vital part of what is of ‘first importance’. But here Paul is really emphasising Christ’s resurrection which is the other, inseparable part of what is of ‘first importance’. And to ‘drive it home’ Paul says ‘if Christ has not been raised’ then…

Sometimes we might talk in terms of hypotheticals - e.g. if my house wasn’t insured and there was a fire and it burnt down, I’d be in big trouble!

Now if Christ has not been raised we would be in ‘big trouble’. What trouble? Paul tells us.

‘If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain’ v. l4.

So, what you have been listening to over, say many years, is a sheer waste of time, both for you and the preacher!

‘We are even found to be mis-representing God that he raised Christ…’ v. 15 It’s a serious thing to lie about God!

‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” v.l6 Your faith is pointless, it doesn’t get you anywhere and your sins are still with you!

‘Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.’ v.l8. You won’t see your Christian loved ones and friends ever again; they are dead and gone!

So to round off this hypothetical, Paul says ‘If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.’ v.l9

In Paul’s day and later, believing in the Lord Jesus could result in trouble, even from family. It could be social isolation, poverty, even martyrdom! If Christians are believing a lie, it is pitiful to go through that for no purpose!

Friends, if Jesus’ bones are rotting somewhere in Palestine, an awful lot follows! - and I mean ‘awful’!

So, does the resurrection of Christ really matter?

You bet it does! It is of ‘first importance.'

‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have been raised from the dead.’ v 20

What a difference that little word ‘but’ makes! ‘But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead’. ‘In fact’ - not ‘in fiction’! This is the sober truth, it has happened! This is not an invention, not a clever story to save face! The apostles, if lying, might have ‘saved face’ - but not their lives! What’s the point of saving face if you don’t save your life but lose it in the process!? Yes, ‘in fact Christ has been raised from the dead’. And Paul tells us of some of the eye- witnesses. Eye-witness evidence is still vital and substantial evidence for any law court today.

‘he appeared to Cephas’. This is the Peter who under pressure, three times denied he knew Jesus. In Luke’s gospel we hear the eleven and others who were with them tell the couple who encountered Jesus at Emmaus, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ (i.e. to Peter)

So, later when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost he could honestly say ‘This Jesus, God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.' Acts 2:32. So Jesus ‘appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.'

In the ranks of these apostles of Jesus was Matthew. He had been a taxman. Someone has dryly said, ‘A taxman is not usually given to hallucinations!’

Another apostle had been what we today would call an underground freedom fighter - a ‘zealot’ in those days. That’s a tough man. Was he given to fantasies by saying Jesus was raised? I don’t think so!

Then there was James - at first he wouldn’t believe in his brother Jesus, but Jesus ‘appeared to James’ 1 Cor 15:7, and James later became a leader in the Jerusalem church.

Then we are told here that Jesus ‘appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.’ 1Cor 15:6

Surely a jury today, determining whether or not something actually happened, would take the evidence of 500 eye-witnesses as very substantial evidence!

And ‘last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me’, says Paul. v.8. That is significant. Why? He says ‘I persecuted the church of God.' At one time he ‘acted ignorantly in unbelief’, 1Tim 1:l3 he had fought this belief held by Christ’s followers, he tried to stamp it out - but, ‘he appeared also to me.' Paul the Jew, had a complete change as a result, and became an apostle to the Gentiles!

The persecutor became a preacher.

Yes, the resurrection of Christ happened. But positively, why is it, along with Christ’s death for our sins ‘of first importance’? We have seen why in what follows if Christ has not been raised, so let’s ‘reverse’ that to see positively what it means because he has in fact been raised.

Christ has been raised - therefore preaching is not in vain, and your faith is not in vain. The apostles are not liars, but telling the truth about God raising Jesus. Your faith is not futile, pointless, but it is precious, and you are not still in your sins, but are forgiven and are ‘now justified by his blood.’ Rom 5:9

If you are ‘justified’ its like ‘just-as-if-I’d’ never sinned!

Those who have fallen asleep in Jesus are in good hands! They haven’t perished! And our hopes don’t end in the grave! We too will be raised!

But what is this resurrection of the dead?

Is it only survival of the spirit after death? That was a Greek outlook, and the Corinthians had been affected by it, and so didn’t really see resurrection as involving your body. But resurrection happened to Jesus’ body - ‘handle me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have’ Lk 24:39

Jesus even ate some broiled fish before them, Lk 24:42,43; and made a bbq and cooked some fish on it! John 21:9.

Ghosts don’t do that!

Yes, Jesus died on a cross, his body died; his body was buried; and his body was raised.

‘It is I myself; handle me, and see.’ Lk 24:40.

This resurrected body of Jesus was forever free from decay and death and the limitations of our present bodies. That’s what we will be like, we who ‘belong to Christ’. 1 Cor 15:23.

‘Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ’. ‘Our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body…’ Philip. 3:21.

Our complete salvation will include this.

Paul says ‘Christ the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ 1Cor 15:20.

When Christ died it was at the Jewish Passover, and on the third day of the Passover you brought the first little bit of fruit or corn and offered it to God.

Christ’s resurrection on the third day is the first of a great harvest to come - a great harvest of others to be resurrected.

When the Americans stepped onto the moon’s surface, Neil Armstrong uttered the words, ‘one small step for man - one giant leap for mankind!’ He realised it wasn’t only something he had done for himself, but on behalf of mankind. The resurrection of Jesus broke the death barrier, not only for himself but for us too!

Paul teaches ‘just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man.’ 1Cor 15:21 This other man is Jesus, the head of a new humanity.

But some of the Corinthians asked, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ Perhaps we may have similar questions at times? Let’s listen to Paul. He takes us out to the paddock - if you are a farmer - or to our vegie plot, if not!

‘_What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernal, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.'_1Cor 15: 36-38 So you plant the seed and it is transformed into another ‘body’.

So what kind of body will be the resurrection body? ‘What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable’ v42.

The body you and I now have is wearing out, but there will be a body which will never wear out!

‘It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory’. Perhaps there are some things now about our body that might embarrass us or humble us or let us down, but the resurrection body will be full of glory, strong and lovely to look at.

‘It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power’ And so we will have all the strength we need to serve God day and night - 24/7 - without any tiredness. We won’t even need that afternoon snooze!

‘They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.’ ‘For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies’. In short, Paul says, ‘Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man’ - that is, like Jesus. 1Cor 15:44,53,49

And so, the resurrection of Christ means that his followers will be raised. But it also means his foes will be defeated.

His followers will be raised - ‘we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall all be changed.'

And his foes will be defeated. ‘For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.’ v 25,26. Then Christ will deliver the kingdom, the sovereignty, the kingship to God the Father, and as the Son, will submit to the Father, that God ‘may be everything to everyone’ or ‘all in all,' or be ‘utterly supreme over everything everywhere,' or ‘God will rule completely over all.’ 1Cor 15:24-28

We look at the state of the world each night on our T.V. news, and we see there is a lot that is not what God intends. There is disharmony, disease, death, destruction. Will it always be like this? No!

‘For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.'

The Lord Jesus has told us in some of his parables that the evil will finally be separated from the righteous. And in Rev. 20:10 we read the devil will ‘be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone.' Also, ‘There shall be no more anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face… and they shall reign for ever and ever.’ Rev 22: 3,5.

Now the resurrection of Christ points to all this, and is the first part of God ‘making all things new’ Rev 21:5; but it also assures us of power now to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this world.

We need God’s power to face our temptations and responsibilities.

And so, Paul tells us that he as a believer wanted ‘to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…’ Philips. 3:10

And Paul prayed for his fellow Christians that they would know ‘what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places…'

Eph 1:19,20

Yes, power now, and promise for the future

In the Middle Ages people wondered whether or not there was a sea route to India. Was there a way to the land of spices and perfumes around the southern tip of Africa? Nobody knew for sure. All attempts at rounding the Cape had failed. The Cape was known as the Cape of Storms, and it was the scene of many a wreck.

However, along came Vascoda Gama, and succeeded in rounding the Cape and reaching the East and returning back to Lisbon in triumph. The Cape of Storms was changed to the Cape of Good Hope.

Until the time Jesus died and was raised, death was like that Cape of Storms, littered with wrecks. But he successfully rounded that ‘cape of death’ and returned! His resurrection opened up for us a way to a new land which he had shown exists. And because he has safely navigated that dangerous Cape, he is well equipped to act as Pilot to us!

‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.’ John 11:25,26

And the risen Lord spoke to John, ‘I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’. Rev 1:18

Now because of Christ’s resurrection and what it means for the present and the future, Paul concludes with an exhortation -

‘Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.’ 1 Cor. 15:58

‘be steadfast, immovable.' Don’t lose your faith in this teaching about the resurrection; don’t let anyone rob you of your confidence in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and your own resurrection through him.

Don’t be moved away from the living hope because of the resurrection of Christ, but hold fast your faith, ‘always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.'

Because resurrection is real and certain, then your Christian life and work are full of purpose and hope, not empty, not a waste of time, effort and energy; it is lasting, you are building for eternity.

Let us pray -

Series: 1 Corinthians

Topics: #1 Corinthians