Holy Week Bible Study

2000 years ago, Jesus has entered Jerusalem, cleared the temple, given the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24-25. On Wednesday He was teaching in the Temple while the powers that be plotted to kill Him. Tomorrow will be the Last Supper and Gethsemane and we know that Friday is His trial, crucifixion, and burial and then His Resurrection on Sunday. Eventually, I’d love to do a Good Friday service but until we do, Palm Sunday is a day where we focus on this week while Easter Sunday is exclusively on His victory and Resurrection. This is where we’re at, and I’m not sure about you but I’m pumped about this week in history and in the life of our church! God is at work - and 2000 years ago, God was at work in bringing about His plan and bring about the death of death!

Whenever Americans are asked about their favorite holiday, what holiday do you think is the most popular? In terms of the percentage of people who celebrate the holiday, Christmas takes the cake and it isn’t particularly close as! We understand this because Christmas is the “most wonderful time of the year” after all. Christmas comes in at the top followed by Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day. At 4th place is Easter. Easter comes before holidays such as the 4th of July and Father’s Day - something that might surprise some of us! Why is Easter something that nearly 80% of Americans celebrate year in and year out? Many Americans celebrate the Easter bunny and the beginning of Spring. Many Americans travel to have lunch with family and break out the barbecue equipment for the first or second time in the year. Easter is a fun time spent with family and enjoying the outdoors.

‌As followers of Christ, though, we love spending time with family and we might incorporate that into our celebration, but we know that Easter is so much deeper than a bunny, eggs, or even time with loved ones. Easter is whenever we celebrate what Jesus Christ did nearly 2000 years ago as He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead 3 days later. We celebrate the fact that our God defeated sin and death once and for all!

‌Why do you think so many people doubt the Resurrection?

Not normal

Goes against our brain

What are some explanations of the Resurrection you’ve heard?

His body was stolen

Romans covered it up

They found a duplicate

The disciples fooled everyone

In our world today there are lots of people who have a fundamental question about the resurrection and understandably so! How can someone be crucified on a cross, be dead for 3 days, and come back to life? That seems almost too good to be true. Because of this, many people in our world have some alternative theories concerning this holiday. They think that the disciples got around the Roman guards and stole Jesus’ body and that this was just an elaborate coverup that people have believed ever since. Others believe that the disciples found another person who looked almost identical to Jesus and they convinced everyone that He had risen from the dead. Maybe you’re here this morning in person or online and you’re genuinely on the fence about this whole thing. Maybe you were taught about the resurrection of Jesus Christ growing up or maybe this is the first time you’ve ever heard about it and you think this is absolutely crazy to consider.

Look at what Paul says about the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, as we’ll be looking at tonight

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 CSB

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: 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,

The Bible is crystal clear in who Jesus Christ was and what Christ did. Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth. God became a man. He lived on this earth for 30+ years and lived a perfect life. After 3 years of ministry, Christ was delivered over to the Jewish and Roman leaders and sentenced to die by crucifixion. This is exactly what happened as the Gospel accounts tell us. Christ died. Even though He had done no wrong, He died for sinners like you and I!‌

Romans 5:8 CSB

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is good news. You and I fall short each and every day. The Bible calls this sin and the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The fact that Christ dies for sinners is good news because you and I are sinners in need of saving! However, do we simply celebrate the death of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday? No. We celebrate something even better. We celebrate the Greatest News of All - that Christ didn’t stay in the grave. He rose. Because of this, He demands a response. This week is THE most amazing week of the entire year. More so than Christmas. More so than the 4th of July or Memorial Day or any “Day” or week or month that we can think of. This week changes everything! Tonight we’ll look at a common Easter text in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 to see the implications of the Resurrection today.

1 Corinthians 15:50–58 CSB

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Tonight we’re simply going to see why the Resurrection Matters so much people today in preparation for Sunday morning! In a few weeks whenever we split into some smaller groups, I’ll be leading a New Members Class in May after spending a few weeks with our youth in April and Kevin will take one of our Adult groups through a book entitled, “Resurrection Hope and the Death of Death.” Genuinely, one of the best books I’ve read about why the Resurrection matters so much in our lives as Christians and I’m excited to see the growth and conversations that come from that study!

‌Why the Resurrection Matters to Christianity

‌Again, people are very skeptical about the Resurrection and this makes sense because people are skeptical about just about everything these days from news stories to normal conversations to things that we see online to things in the Bible. Whenever we talk about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, this is often met with skepticism. What we have to start out with as Christians is to define and explain what the Bible is and what it is not.

How can you and I trust what we read in the Bible?

It is God’s Word which makes it truthful and authoritative

Why is it necessary to understand the authority of the Bible before looking at an event like the Resurrection?

The Bible is true and trust worthy - even if it shares something that goes against conventional wisdom

This is also true for modern topics of confusion like truth or sexuality. If the Bible is God’s Word rather than man’s word then it has the right to tell us what to do and what to think - not the other way around. It has the authority

‌More than anything, Christianity is believing in what the Bible says about our Triune God and His plan of redemption which includes the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Christianity rises or falls based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ because without the resurrection - Christianity falls apart! Yes, you would have some practical wisdom, moral messages, and cool stories, but you don’t have salvation without the resurrection.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14

1 Corinthians 15:13–14 CSB

13 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 proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

Other religions can survive to an extent without a specific person or by ignoring some of their teachings. You can be a Hindu without hearing about Ghandi. You can be a Buddhist without believing everything Buddha taught. You can be a Muslim without Muhammed. As Islamic studies professor in Germany believes that Muhammed didn’t even exist, for crying out loud!

Yet, you can’t be a Christian without Christ. You can’t talk about the hope that Christ brings to your life without talking about the resurrection. Hope. Think of those 4 letters for a moment. We are surrounded by people who are hopeless or they are hopeful for something better in the future. They are hopeless in the present or in their current circumstances and we’ve all had periods of our life where we were hopeless. We couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and we were genuinely hopeless. Other times in our lives we were hopeful in the wrong thing. Things weren’t going well and we were hopeful that things would get better soon. We were hopeful that the next school year wouldn’t be as a bad as the last one. We were hopeful that the next job would be our dream job. We were hopeful that the next relationship would finally be the one that lasted! What happens more times than not in life, though? It doesn’t happen. The breakthrough doesn’t come. The job isn’t what we were hoping. The relationship doesn’t last. Healing doesn’t arrive. Why? Because we live in a broken world full of broken people who make broken promises. Where is the lasting hope in such a world? In short, there is no lasting hope that satisfies like it promises us it will.

Yet, we see a promise in the Bible from Jesus Christ about how He satisfies

John 4:14 CSB

14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

Jesus, through His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead, provides satisfaction for our souls. One of the things that we have to remember as Christians is that the Resurrection proves that this life is not all that there is. We will all spend eternity somewhere, but because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we can have assurance that we will spend eternity with Him in glory where there will be no more pain, sorrow, heartache, or sickness.

As we look at the Resurrection, what does it show death to be?

Death is a door or a coma with much waiting for us on the other side

Death is NOT the end for any person, Christian or non-Christian

The Resurrection should be our motivation for missions as we know that we will spend eternity somewhere

The resurrection is crucial for Christianity because it proves that Jesus was who He said and that sin and death have no claim on those who repent and belong to Him.

Why the Resurrection Matters to You

‌If there is no Christianity without a crucified and resurrected Savior, we have to take this a step further to our lives as Christians. Why does the resurrection matter to you and me? Lots of people in this world go day to day with zero hope and meaning and purpose. The Resurrection changes all of those things as we see that pain and suffering are purposeful to an all-knowing God. The Resurrection changes everything! Let’s look at the hope that the Resurrection gave to Jesus’ disciples

What were the disciples doing after the crucifixion?

Afraid and in hiding

John 20:19 CSB

19 When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Scared

Not remembering what Jesus had taught in Luke 9:22

Luke 9:22 CSB

22 saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.”

They should have known this would happen!

What happened to the disciples after the Resurrection?

They were bold in their faith

They were willing to die for their faith

What changed here? Jesus must’ve risen as He said He would!

1 Corinthians 15:5–6 CSB

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.

There were hundreds of eye witnesses who saw the resurrected Jesus and this changed their lives as well!

Without the Resurrection, we’d have lots of wisdom from Jesus. We’d have some good news that He died on the cross in our place. We’d have some awesome stories. But we wouldn’t have eternal hope because we’d still be dead in our sins

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 CSB

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

If Jesus didn’t raise, our faith is worthless and we should be pitied… but 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus DID raise from the grave. He DID conquer sin. He DID win for us the victory. Therefore, we must give thanks!

How does the Resurrection impact our lives day in and day out?

It should make us be thankful

It should make us study Scripture

It should make us share the Gospel

1 Corinthians 15:22 CSB

22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

This is the hope of the Resurrection. The first Adam doomed us all, but the second Adam, the greater Adam, declares us innocent and alive!

Are you ready to actually get into our Bible study text?

See, the Resurrection isn’t just good news to people 2000 years ago, the Resurrection is good news today!

Paul shares in 1 Corinthians 15 the hope that BELIEVERS have due to the Resurrection. If you aren’t a believer, this does you no good. But if you are a believer, if you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, then you have hope that just as Christ rose, you will as well.

1 Corinthians 15:53 CSB

53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.

Our bodies are corruptible - they hurt, ache, suffer, and will pass away… what do we need? Incorruptibility and immortality. This is what the Resurrection does - Jesus gives us a new hope, a glorious hope, an eternal hope. We will receive a new body that doesn’t hurt, ache, or carry with it the stain of sin. Instead, our song will be

1 Corinthians 15:55 CSB

55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?

These are words that we find in many songs and we read them in Scripture - what are you most looking forward to in your Resurrected body?

Worshipping Jesus

Being in God’s presence

Holiness

Absence of sin

As we look at the cross and empty tomb during this week, what are some things that we all should do as Christians?

Give thanks to God (1 Cor 15:57)

Tell others about their need for Jesus

Worship faithfully

Read Scripture steadfastly

The Gospel tells us that we are all sinners who have fallen short of God’s perfect standard and that we all need help because the wages of our sin is death as Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 tell us. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus died in order to save sinners and give us eternal life. We can’t earn it - we can’t deserve it - we accept it by faith.

Peter tells us this in Acts 2:38

Acts 2:38 CSB

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We must repent and believe. We must follow through in obedience as we submit to Jesus’ commands. Because of the Resurrection, though, there is eternal forgiveness and eternal hope and eternal life that will provide us with purpose and hope during this life. This is why Paul concludes this wonderful chapter with this exhortation in verse 58

1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Our work is not in vain. God has a purpose for us. God works through His people to accomplish His plans! Yes, we mess up. Yes, we are still people who have problems and yes we will still sin, but that sin doesn’t own us. It is not our identity. Our identity as a Christian is completely in Christ. I’m not sure about you, but I’m thankful that our identity is in Christ and that our work for Him is never in vain. He see’s what we do. He honors what we do. He will sustain us as we glorify Him.

Because our labor for the Lord is not in vain, what should stop us from the work He has in store for us?

Nothing!

Close with invitation to continue to serve well and share the Gospel and pray for opportunities to invite others to worship with us during this Easter season.

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