The Preeminence of Christ

INTRODUCTION

Have you thought about what will happen at the end of your life?

Will you live your life and go into the ground, and it all be over, or is there more?

I have some good news for those who think you live, die, and it is over; you are forgotten.

We have a joyous occasion to celebrate today!

Today we celebrate Resurrection Sunday!

This day shows we do not live and die, and it is all over!

On this day, we celebrate the most significant moment in the history of humanity!

It is when we celebrate God raising His Son, Jesus, from the dead.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the most crucial event in human history.

The resurrection of Jesus is the most critical event in history because this one event still impacts us today.

Because of this event, we can have the opportunity to spend eternity with the God who created us and who loves us with all He has.

The resurrection of Jesus puts a stamp of authenticity on Jesus as being the one and only Son of God, the only truth, and the only way to God.

Have you ever considered that we do not have a day to celebrate the resurrection of Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, L. Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith, or any other figure?

Do you know why we do not?

Because it did not happen, so, therefore, there is nothing to celebrate!

With Jesus, we can celebrate this significant historical event!

The resurrection of Jesus is also one of the most attacked events in the Bible.

That is understandable, the event is incredible in itself, and if you are a follower of another religion or if you are a god unto yourself, the resurrection would have to make you think about your position.

The fifteenth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth is one of the high points in the New Testament description and discussion of Jesus’s resurrection.

Big Idea of the Message: Jesus’s resurrection is the promise that more will rise.

Working through the passage today, we will see why Jesus is preeminent over everything!

Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-28!

We will start with verses 1-4.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand,

2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

SERMON

I. The Gospel.

Before we go too deep, we need to know about the gospel.

In these first four verses, Paul explains the importance of the subject at hand!

The gospel that Paul preached; when received and when we take a stand upon, this Gospel saves us!

We are not saved through anyone or anything other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and on Christ alone!

This is part of the reason Jesus is preeminent!

For this gospel to be effective, we must stand on it, believe in it, to 3

Verse two continues by saying we must also hold fast to this gospel unless we believe in vain!

Believing in vain is one who gives lip service to the message, but it has no real impact on them.

We are saved by the gospel message if we allow the message to produce blessed effects in our lives.

Verses 3-4 explain to us what the message is.

Naturally, there are many facets of God’s work in Christ that Paul both preached and taught about, but in 15:3-5, Paul emphasizes the centrality of four of these major points.

Each of these is introduced by the term “that.”

The message was that Christ died for OUR sins according to the scriptures.

That He was buried.

That He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

And finally, He appeared!

THIS IS THE FOCAL POINT OF THE GOSPEL!

Nothing is to be added to or removed from this message; Paul lays out the gospel and what we MUST stand upon no matter what!

Next, let's turn to verses 5-11.

1 Corinthians 15:5–11 (NET 2nd ed.)

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

11 Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.

II. The witnesses.

What is an event without witnesses?

We will move through this rather quickly.

Why does Paul go to the trouble of listing those who witnessed the risen Jesus?

This letter was written around 57 Ad, Jesus died and was raised in 30 AD, and it had been over 25 years since the resurrection.

Some people, for whatever reason, most likely societal pressures, were starting to doubt the possibility of resurrection.

Paul wanted the people to remember many people saw Jesus after the resurrection!

These were objective appearances, not the figment of someone’s imagination.

Paul is giving a list of those who would have been known to the Corinthian church, and these are not all who saw Jesus but a fraction of the appearances.

The resurrection did not take place in a fairy tale land; it took place in Jerusalem.

Jesus did not resurrect on some planet from which no one saw Him, Jesus rose in Jerusalem, and He appeared to many people!

The first group Paul references is Peter and the Twelve.

“The TWELVE” was a technical term that referred to the Apostles.

What is the significance of His appearing to the 12?

Remember where these men were when Jesus was crucified and laid in the tomb!

These men feared for their lives.

These men were in no position to proclaim a message; they were afraid to die!

All these men (the Apostles) went from fearing for their lives to fearlessly proclaiming Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem.

Peter was so afraid he denied Jesus 3 times on the night He was betrayed.

How do you go from fearful to fearless?

AND HE APPEARED TO PETER AND THE 12.

HE APPEARED TO JAMES, HIS BROTHER!

How does a man go from rounding up Christians to being a follower of Jesus, who wrote a good chunk of the New Testament?

AND HE APPEARED TO PAUL!

When you SEE Jesus, you go from fearful to fearless, from faithless to faith!

In case those appearances were insufficient, He appeared to over 500 others, many of whom were still alive!

Have you seen Jesus?

I am not talking in a physical sense, but have you seen Jesus?

If you have, you will never be the same!

Seeing Jesus changes you; hearing about Him does not.

The Apostles WALKED with Him for three years and still did not see Him.

When He arose from the dead, for the first time, they saw Him for who He was!

Let’s look at verses 12-19.

1 Corinthians 15:12–19 (NET 2nd ed.)

12 Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

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 futile and your faith is empty.

15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.

18 Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

III. The “what ifs.”

Paul lists six implications if the resurrection of the body was not possible.

As we look at these six implications, we will see why the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith.

The First “what if.”

If there is no resurrection, then Christ has not been raised! Verse 13,16.

Jesus was killed, buried, and left in the tomb for three days.

His soul left the body, which had no blood flow and was cold and lifeless.

These things would make resurrecting Jesus as difficult as it would any other dead body.

Jesus had the same body that we possess.

Jesus ate and drank after He was resurrected.

Verse 16 tells us the same thing.

After 25 years, no evidence was presented to suggest Jesus was not resurrected.

The second "what if” was that if Jesus was not raised, the message was not true, and the messengers gave false testimony about God!

If Christ had not been raised, the message of the gospel has no power; there is nothing to it, and we would be just another false religion offering false hope.

Paul tells us that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, the apostles' preaching was in vain.

The word “in vain” means empty, hollow, devoid of reality, and meaningless.

Without the resurrection being true, the Bible itself would be false.

If we proclaim that God did something He did not do, then we (Christians) are false witnesses.

The third "what if” is if Christ has not been raised, our faith is empty!

No resurrection = no power.

In verse 17, Paul uses a different word for “empty” than in verse 14.

The word he uses in verse 17 says our faith is USELESS without the resurrection.

God’s love, God’s promises, and God’s plan of salvation are all worthless and useless if Jesus was not raised.

All of Christianity rises and falls with the resurrection.

Without the resurrection, our faith in God, His church, and eternal life have no foundation.

We are just another group following cleverly devised tales; we might as well have had a holy salamander give us the gospel.

If Jesus is not the Son of God, raised on the third day, we better shut the church down and do something else with our time.

You cannot be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

The fourth “what if” is that if Jesus is still dead, we are still dead in our sins! Verse 17

What cleanses us from our sins?

The blood of Jesus, the sinless Son of God.

The 5th "what if” is a very depressing thought for those who have lost a loved one who was Christian.

If Christ has not been raised, those who have died before us are condemned. Verse 18.

When the Bible uses the word “perished,” it means a person has died without salvation; it denotes someone who will spend eternity in hell apart from the loving God who made them.

The perishing being spoken of here is not physical death but dying lost.

If Jesus has not been raised, your loved one will not be either; they, along with ALL of us, will be eternally separated from God.

The final “what if” is that if Jesus is dead, we are to be most pitied!

Most of all, we are to be pitied because our hopes and dreams of heaven will end in disappointment.

How depressing, you live and die, and that is all; what a waste.

Everything we believe in means nothing if there is no resurrection.

We all wasted our time and our money on something that was not true.

Let’s close with verses 20-28.

1 Corinthians 15:20–28 (NET 2nd ed.)

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.

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

23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.

24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power.

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

26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death.

27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him.

28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

IV. The first fruits.

Death came from Adam; eternal life comes through Jesus!

Jesus is called the first fruits.

When you plant things, maybe like a strawberry plant, all the strawberries do not appear at once.

There is always a first one, which signifies more to come!

Jesus is the first to be resurrected, showing there will be many more!

CONCLUSION

Have you pondered what will happen when your life on earth is done?

Maybe today is the day to start!

The last enemy is death.

Death will not be entirely defeated until we are all resurrected.

God’s other foes will be subdued before thoroughly defeating this last foe.

After all this is done, Jesus will deliver the kingdom to God the Father.

According to the Great Commission, the Father gave ALL AUTHORITY to Jesus.

Once the final foe is defeated, Jesus' ministry of reconciliation between God and man will be completed.