21 minute read
My Pulpit Message Notes: The resurrection
from TT 149
by TIMES TODAY
The Resurrection
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He is risen. He is risen indeed!
There was crucifixion Friday, but we thank the LORD that there is also Easter Sunday. They crucified our Saviour, buried Him and thought that they had dealt Him a blow. That all was done and dusted. But we thank God that after crucifixion Friday, there is an Easter Sunday. That Jesus Christ overcame.
Therefore Easter comes with great symbolism to us as Christians. Easter comes with great significant as far as our faith is concerned. Easter is so central to our Christian faith, because if Jesus did not resurrect, then all that we do is an exercise in futility.
The Resurrection
- 1 Corinthians challenges us as believers to examine every area of our lives through the lens of the gospel. Specifically, Paul addresses divisions among believers. He addresses issues to do with food offered to idols and whether to eat those foods or not. He addresses issues of morality that need to be viewed from the lens of the gospel. He talks about worship gatherings and propriety in worship and in this particular text hetalks about the resurrection and how central it is as far as our faith is concerned.
- There was this little boy with his father and they were driving on a nice beautiful Sunday afternoon.Suddenly a bumblebee got into the car and there was a buzz in the car. This young boy was allergic to the bee sting and started crying hysterically. The father then took the bee and squeezed it a little bit and let the bee fly again. And the boy started crying again hysterically because he did not know what the father had done. The father then caught the bee again and showed that boy on his finger, this is the sting of the bee and because this sting has been taken out of the bee, the bee cannot sting you anymore.
- To a larger extent that is what Jesus Christ did in this text and in verse 55, Paul says,
- Jesus Christ had taken away the power of death, the power of sin because Jesus Christ died on Friday and by the grace of God, He rose again.
The surety of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:12-13
The significance of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:14-32
The steps that we need to take as believers. 1 Corinthians 15:33
1. The surety of the resurrection
- When talking about the surety of resurrection, we are talking about the certainty. Being convinced without any shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ indeed resurrected. The believability that Jesus Christ indeed rose from the dead.
- Paul wanted to prove the resurrection of Christ not because the Corinthian church/Christians did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. 1 Corinthians 5:11 Paul makes it clear that they believed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. What they were denying is that as believers/ Christians/children of God, there will be no resurrection. They denied our resurrection. They were influenced either by the Greek philosophy which considered the resurrection undesirable, thinking that the state of pure spirit was so much superior than the physical state that we are in. If they were not influenced by the Greek philosophy, then most likely they were influenced by the Sadducees who actually thought that the world beyond this life was wishful thinking.
- The bottom line is that the Corinthian Christians believed we live forever, but not in the resurrected bodied and that is what Paul is trying to connect, that because Jesus Christ rose from the dead there is hope for you and I. Resurrection is not a merely life after death, but is actually life that will continue in eternity. - The Corinthian Christians did not think carefully. Some of them denied the reality of the resurrection while at the same time believing that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead. - Paul is telling them that if Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then those of us who know Him, there is hope for us. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen as He says (verse 13)
“13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.”
Surety of the resurrection
- The empty tomb. John 20:1
- We are told that Mary Magdalene went first and found an empty tomb and very fast ran back to the other disciples, “Looking for the ones that Jesus loved,” and she was said to them, “where have they taken away, my King and my Lord?” If there was an eye witness in those particular days, you cannot argue with an eye witness and especially so close to the happenings. If that was not true then that story would not have gone on for generations to the one that we have today. Then the story of the empty tomb gives us the assurance that indeed Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
- Paul wanted to prove the resurrection of Christ not because the Corinthian church/Christians did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. 1 Corinthians 5:11 Paul makes it clear that they believed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. What they were denying is that as believers/Christians/children of God, there will be no resurrection. They denied our resurrection. They were influenced either by the Greek philosophy which considered the resurrection undesirable, thinking that the state of pure spirit was so much superior than the physical state that we are in. If they were not influenced by the Greek philosophy, then most likely they were influenced by the Sadduccees who actually thought that the world beyond this life was wishful thinking.
- The bottom line is that the Corinthian Christians believed we live forever, but not in the resurrected bodied and that is what Paul is trying to connect, that because Jesus Christ rose from the dead there is hope for you and I.
Resurrection is not a merely life after death, but is actually life that will continue in eternity.
- The Corinthian Christians did not think carefully. Some of them denied the reality of the resurrection while at the same time believing that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead.
- Paul is telling them that if Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then those of us who know Him, there is hope for us. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen as He says (verse 13) “13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.”
Surety of the resurrection
- The empty tomb. John 20:1
- We are told that Mary Magdalene went first and found an empty tomb and very fast ran back to the other disciples, “Looking for the ones that Jesus loved,” and she was said to them, “where have they taken away, my King and my Lord?” If there was an eye witness in those particular days, you cannot argue with an eye witness and especially so close to the happenings. If that was not true then that story would not have gone on for generations to the one that we have today. Then the story of the empty tomb gives us the assurance that indeed Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
- Jesus Christ appeared to these disciples . In the book of Acts, Luke writing saying, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
- Jesus continued to appear to His disciples for a period of 40 days, giving them the assurance, that yes I Am alive. That yes, they wanted my to be completely finished, but because of the power bestowed on me, I was able to overcome death and because of that, the gospel continued in the book of Acts and the spread of the gospel is what we have today.
- Paul in 1 Corinthians 9-11says that, “I am the least of the apostles”. Paul says he was against the church, was persecuting the church. If Jesus had not resurrected I wouldn’t have been born again. Jesus would not have confronted me on the way to Damascus and that is the reason I got born again and got converted from persecuting the church to the one that is now propagating the gospel with the zeal that he had.
- Jesus Christ rose again. There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus Christ rose again.
The significance of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:14-32
- 1 Corinthians 15:14-19
- The significance is that we have hope. If Jesus did not rise again then our faith is futile. We live under pity. If Christ is not risen then our preaching is in vain. Worse: if Christ is not risen then we are found false witnesses of God. There is no principle of resurrection and if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the apostles are actually liar. Worse yet, if Christ is not risen our faith is futile. We are still in our sin.
- We can follow Paul’s logic and sequence point by point. For example, if there is no principle or doctrine of resurrection then Jesus did not rise from the dead. If so, then death has power over Him and had defeated Him. If death has power over Jesus, then Jesus is not God. If so, then Jesus cannot offer a complete sacrifice for our sin. If so, then our sins are not completely paid for before God. If so, then I / we are still living in our sins and therefore there is no hope for you and I if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead.
- Worse still, if Christ is not risen then those who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished and there is not hope whatsoever. If there is not principle or doctrine of resurrection, then the dead in Christ are gone forever. There is no chance of being able to meet them again. - Worst of all, if Christ is not risen, then we have absolutely no hope. Life is in vain. “Everything depends on retaining our firm hold on this doctrine in particular, for if this taught us and no longer counts, all other doctrines will lose their value and validity” Martin Luther. If Jesus rose, then this gospel is what it professes to be. If He rose not from the dead, then it is all deceit and illusion, the old preacher Charles Spurgeon said. - The doctrine of resurrection is the anchoring doctrine of all other Christian major doctrines.
- The divinity of the godly nature of Jesus Christ rests on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. - The Sovereignty (that Jesus and God is in charge over all the affairs of the world) rests on this doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. - Our being justified, being forgiven, rests on the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. - Our regeneration (being able to respond to the goal of the gospel) rests on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. - Our ultimate resurrection rests on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- The fact is, the silver thread of the resurrection runs through all the doctrines and if your remove the doctrines of resurrection, then our faith is an exercise in futility.
- The significance of the resurrection doctrine, that Jesus Christ resurrected, is the fact that we are able to have hope, and the fact that He was able to overcome and that by His grace we are able to be forgiven and we too are able to overcome.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
- The principle of the firstfruit here takes us back to Adam and Eve. That sin came through one person, Adam and Eve and from that particular time dealing with sin was not possible and therefore it is only Jesus Christ who was the first. Just as sin came through one man, redemption also came through this Man, Jesus Christ and that is the principle of the firstfruit.
- Raising Christ from the dead, God has set in motion a chain of events that must culminate in the final destruction of death and thus of God being once again as in eternity past as it is all in all - Verse 24
Ultimately, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And the beginning of that is because Jesus Christ resurrected on Easter Sunday. When He puts and end to all the rule and all the authority, that can only happen because Jesus Christ was able to overcome death. He must reign till He is able to put all the enemies under His feet and the last being death.
- The expression ‘under His feet’ is an Old Testament figure of speech which means total conquest.
- Paul reminds us of something important, that death is an enemy because death was not the original plan of God, but because Jesus Christ has conquered death, even that death like the bumblebee talked about earlier, will be dealt final blow because there is an empty cross.
- verse 29-32 more reasons to believe in the principles/doctrine of resurrection gives a practical example. -
- The present tense in ‘Now if there is no resurrection” suggests that at Corinth people were currently being baptised for the dead, a very strange teaching. But because Paul does not give any more information about the practice, many times theologians have been made to interpret that particular concept. One of those is saying that living believers were being baptised for believers who died before they were baptised so that they too in a sense would not miss in baptism. The second possibility is that Christians were being baptised in anticipation of resurrection of the dead. And the third is that new converts were being baptised to fill the ranks of Christians who had died.
- It is worth noting that Paul mentions this custom almost in passing using it in argument substantiating the resurrection of the dead that without necessarily disapproving the practice. He is saying that if you do not believe in the resurrection, then why do all this? Because for us as believers and evangelicals, we believe that baptism is an outward symbol of that which has happened inside of us. It is a public declaration of the faith and the belief that we have in God. - But all this practice, Paul is almost going back then, if you do not believe, then why are you doing all this?
- Verse 32 “32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Here what Paul is saying, then everything that I have been doing is an exercise in futility. Remember Paul was a chief persecutor of the Christians. Just the fact at he got born again, that he met Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus and he got converted is a testimony that indeed there is a resurrection. - So as he says that “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus” This statement can be taken literally or figuratively. But since we know from Acts 19, we have no evidence of Paul’s suffering imprisonment, or having to face the lions, it is more likely that the expression means that the enemies in Ephesus were as ferocious as wild beasts, therefore, if you do not believe, then let us do whatever we want, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” We shall die anyway and after we die there is no hope for tomorrow or eternity.
- Therefore brings it back that the significance of the resurrection is that there is hope for you and I. If Jesus did it, and He overcame it, it was on yours / my behalf so that indeed there is an empty tomb.
The steps that we need to take as believers. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34
Other versions read, “Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits! Awake to righteousness and do not sin for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”
- Knowing the truth about our resurrection should actually affect the way we live today.
- 1. Check your company because, our company will influence us in one way or another. “Evil company corrupts good habits”.
Where did the Corinthian Christians get their strange ideas about the resurrection? Paul says most likely by associating with Jews who did to believe in the resurrection such as the Sadducees or by associating with pagan Greek philosophical types who did not believe in the resurrection. it was bad enough that these associations had affected their thinking on an important doctrine that will affect their worldview and conviction.
- We therefore need to be very careful. Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world, but ye be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good, acceptable and the perfect will of God.”
- By keeping evil company the Corinthian Christians were conforming into the world and they needed to be transformed by the renewal of their mind.
2. Check you doctrine. Christians must let the Word of God shape our thinking. Not the company of this world, nor the philosophies of this world, but our worldviews and convictions should be influenced by the Word of God. Through much of this book Paul deals with the moral problems of the Corinthians; envy, divisions, pride, immorality, greed, irreverence and selfishness. How much of these came because of not being able to check their doctrines and especially being influenced by the philosophies of this world.
- Paul writing to young Timothy after telling him, ‘Do not let anyone look down upon you because you are young. 1 Timothy 4:15
- There is a possibility that when we think of evil company then we are thinking so much more outside the church and that is largely true. However, there are doctrines that have creeped into the church and inform our worldview and out of this we build convictions which are not consistent with the Word of God rather, with the philosophies of this world.
- Please watch your doctrine, sometimes camouflaging as the church of Jesus Christ, or in a subtle way as a popular gospel. Paul will want us to be very careful and to watch our doctrine. The best way to do so is to know the Word of God because we can only be sanctified by the Word of God which is the truth. - David says, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” - The Word of God, the true doctrine, that is what Paul wants us to be careful about and says, please do not be ignorant because we need to thoroughly examine and determine doctrines because from doctrines we build our worldview and hence our convictions. -
3. Awake to righteousness. Another version says, ‘Awake to righteousness and do not sin’. ‘Come back to your senses as you ought.’ Your senses so that you are quickened by the Word of God. So that you are living right and in a consistent manner with the ways and the Word of God. And it is only through that, that by His grace we are able to stop sinning for there are some that are ignorant of God.
- The core of our Christian faith is that Jesus was crucified and that on the third day after He died, Jesus Christ rose again. Without the doctrine of resurrection, our faith is futile as Paul has said.
- Looking at the founders of the religions of this world, their founders died and none of them claims the resurrection of their founder. They do not have power over death, but Jesus does. They do not have power over sin, but Jesus does. That is why by His grace we are redeemed. Josh McDowell says, “All but four of the other major world religions are based on mere philosophical propositions.
- Of the four that are based on personalities rather than philosophies only Christianity claims an empty tomb for its founder. In 1900 BC Judaism father Abraham died. 483 BC Buddhists write and say Buddha died. With that other passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind. June 6th 632 AD Mohammed died. 33 AD Jesus died, but Jesus came back to life appearing to His disciples in a period over 40 days and if Christ has not been raised, Josh McDowell says, “Our preaching, our life our hope will be useless and so will be our faith. If Jesus Christ died and rose again, then that gives us the hope that as believers there is hope beyond the grave and that there is eternal life. For it is written that ‘Man will die once and after death will face judgement.’
- Again Paul writing to the Thessalonians on the same subject says,
- May the truth about the power of resurrection quicken us to realise and to put into practice the fact that He died for me/you. He died for our sins and there is a hope and a hope beyond the grave.
- The surety of resurrection, the significance of the resurrection and the steps that we need to take because of the resurrection.
