The Resurrection is the Father's Final Amen

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers 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 to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 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 toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

I grew up in a traditional Christian home where as far back as I can remember we were always in church on Easter Sunday morning. I love Easter hymns, I love everything about Easter. My parents raised me to believe the Bible was true so with Gusto we would sing...

LOW IN THE GRAVE HE LAY,

JESUS MY SAVIOR,

WAITING THE COMING DAY,

JESUS MY LORD.

UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE.....

The question is, did I really believe that someone could rise from the dead? I remember the first funeral I ever attended was my great grandpa Henderson. I remember walking by the coffin and for a mere gaze into the lifeless body I wondered, can the dead truly live again?

Now at my age and stage of life I have been to countless funerals and memorials for the dead. The haunting question would come back to me. Can the dead truly live again?

I remember the day the 9/11 happened. I was heading to my office at First Baptist Church Port Lavaca where I served as full time youth pastor. At 8:46 on Tuesday morning an airliner carrying passengers plunged into the first tower. Tuesday was my typical day to prepare for our Journey youth on Wednesday. By the time we came to Wednesday our auditorium was jam packed with students who whether they knew it or not were asking the same question. “Can the Dead truly Live again?”

Just Believe, that is what I had always been told, just believe. While that is good wisdom the resurrection of Christ does not exist in a vacuum. The resurrection is not an event that can be separated from the preceding events leading up to the resurrection.

While our Savior was hanging on the cross he cried out ‘It is Finished,’ three days later, God the Father said ‘AMEN.’

While the cross is the completed work of Christ that appeases the wrath of God. His resurrection is the final crescendo or opus that vindicates God’s perfect atoning work at the cross.

THE RESURRECTION IS THE FATHERS FINAL AMEN!

Amen: The basic meaning of the Semitic root from which this word is derived is “firm,” fixed,” or “sure,” and related Hebrew verb also means “to be reliable” and “to be trusted.”

The Greek Old Testament usually translated amen as “so be it”; in the English Bible it has frequently been rendered as “verily,” or “truly.”

Note: 1 Corinthians 15 is the lengthiest treatment of the Resurrection in the NT.

Apparently some of the Corinthians had denied that the dead will rise. Paul sets out to show how such thinking is foolish because the resurrection of the believer is integral to our faith.

Paul begins by showing how fundamental the resurrection is to the gospel message we place all of our faith and belief in for Salvation.

If we were starting the Journey Church in the 1st century and we were seeking a model of church, out of all the churches to pick as a model you probably would not have said, ‘oh, I know! Let’s be like the Church at Corinth.

The church at Corinth is possibly the church that caused Paul the most grief or problems.

1) They had divisions and disputes.

2) Numerous cases of immorality.

3) Questions regarding marriage and purity.

4) They had self-centered and disorderly worship.

5) Some in the Church denied the future bodily resurrection of Christ.

1. We must daily PREACH the gospel to ourselves.

verses 1-3

If someone comes to me and is struggling in their faith, or motivations in the Christian walk. The first question I must ask them is: “Are you daily preaching the gospel to yourself.”

The greatest danger for the believer is to stop preaching the gospel to themselves. Most believers assume that the gospel is merely for the unrepentant and lost person. I would tell you that it is just as much for the lost person as it is for the saved.

Why do we preach it to ourselves first? If we are daily preaching the gospel to ourselves it will overflow into our lives until we are daily preaching it to those around us.

Note: Paul explains that the gospel he preached to them is the gospel by which they are being saved, unless you believed in vain. (did not truly believe and receive the gospel of Christ)

In the gospel is God’s saving message, then how are we being saved by it?

Are we saved by the preaching of the gospel or by the receiving of the gospel?

The answer is both, it is two sides of the same coin.

1) First the gospel itself means Good News, and what is news if it isn’t reported? The calling of the apostles and the calling of the Church is to Preach the Good News.

2) Second, in addition to preaching the gospel, there is a believing side as well. The only way to personally experience the goodness of the good new is to receive its promises.

They had received this message. They had accepted its truths. They had placed their faith and trust in it to save them.

The Gospel applies to our PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE lives.

PAST: describes those who have placed their faith in Christ to save them from the penalty of Sin.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

PRESENT: If you are a Christian than you are being saved from the power of sin. (You are being Sanctified)

Philippians 1:12–13 ESV

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

FUTURE: This describes Christians as one who will be saved once and for all from the presence of Sin

Philippians 1:6 ESV

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

So, here is Paul’s argument. “I faithfully preached the gospel to you. You are being saved by it if you continue to believe the gospel. If, on the other hand, you allow those who deny the resurrection to draw you away from the truth as it is in Jesus then - no matter what you may have professed to believe in the past - you now have an empty worthless faith.

Make no mistake about it, Saving Faith in Jesus Christ believes the gospel and keeps on believing the gospel.

Faith for the Christian is an ongoing experience.

“No true Christian can say “I used to believe but not anymore.” A Christian says, ‘I believe, I am believing, and by the grace of God, I will keep on believing.

“If your heart is not firmly fixed on Jesus Christ, then you are in grave danger of falling away forever. The gospel is God’s saving message to the World, but you must receive it with a living and abiding faith.”

Paul had a Great Concern for False Gospels

Galatians 1:6–7 ESV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

The world and religious culture that we live in today is lined with many things that are not the gospel of Christ.

Notice that all Paul is telling the Church at Corinth is measured by scripture. It is measured by the living breathing word of God. Paul reminds Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 “That if he hears anything that does not line up with the teachings of Jesus Christ we should not listen to them.

vs. 3-8

THE PRIMARY GOSPEL MESSAGE

The following text is set up by the pronoun “that”

1). That Christ died.

Put yourself in the place of the early Israelites bringing your sacrifice to the temple. When you arrive at the gate or door, one of the priest meets you to make sure your sacrifice meets the standard of being unblemished. Once it meets the standard you place your hand on the head of the animal and confess all of your sins. The priest then takes a knife, slits its throat, and watches its body shake and quiver as it bled out and died at his feet.

As you look down at its carcass, lifeless and still, you could say, “that could have been me. My sins deserve death. IN fact, that should have been me, but the lamb took my place.

When Paul writes that Christ died for our sins, He takes our heads in his hands, as it were and turns our faces to Calvary. We see in view all of Jesus agony and pain, the quivering body of our redeemer. Paul points to the son of God and says, ‘That should have been you!’ Sin brings the penalty of death.

2) That He was buried.

The burial of Jesus is a key point of the message because it is proof positive that he was dead. You only bury dead people.

The old liberal theology would have people believe that Jesus was simply unconscious, enter a coma, or swoon. He actually died. The body of Jesus underwent the physical suffering of a crucifixion victim, and the soul of Jesus parted from his body. This was real physical death.

Romans were some of the most skilled masters of torture and death that the world has ever known. It is unthinkable that they would have slipped up to the point of not killing Jesus. The lie that was propagated by Satan in the garden has now followed all the way to the cross. “Did God really say that,” “did Jesus really die?”

The burial of Jesus is significant because it leaves the backdrop for his resurrection.

3) That He was raised.

The resurrection was and is the great vindication of Christ’s work. It is the Fathers final Amen in his son’s atoning death on the cross.

The Resurrection affirms that his death for our sins was successful.

We celebrate Easter because death has died

Psalm 16:10 ESV

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

David was not speaking of himself. Notice he says “you” will not abandon, “your” holy one see corruption. During Jesus day you could visit Davids tomb and see corruption and decay. However, after the resurrection no one would visit Jesus tomb and see a body that is decaying and wasting away.

I think it is interesting that people did not start visiting the traditional tomb sites until the late 1800’s.

The Talpiot Tomb: Discovered in 1980 and likely belonged to a middle class family in the first century. Located 5 km south of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Garden Tomb (Gordon’s Tomb): The Garden tomb, popularized in 1883 by Charles Gordon. It’s serene setting in a garden makes it a popular tourist destination, particularly with evangelical Christians, who come to see the spot where Jesus was buried.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: While this doesn’t look much like a tomb anymore, the remains are surrounded by a huge shrine of sorts to the spot. This is the oldest sight. It was reopened recently after cleaning and structural improvement. The structure dates back to the 4th century and the crusades of the middle ages.

It was tradition during Jesus day to visit family members tombs and those of important people who have died. Why no visitors after the resurrection? Why so long before anyone every looked for the tomb of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

It’s because He is not there, He is Alive and seated at the right hand of the Father. You do not look for or visit the tomb of someone who is alive. I believe the Pharisees even believed in Jesus resurrection. If they did not, why did they go to such great lengths to ensure that the facts of the resurrection never truly came to light.

4) That He appeared

We typically define the gospel as Jesus death, burial, and resurrection, but Paul reminds us not to leave out the Saviors post-resurrection appearances. They serve to verify that He actually did rise from the grave.

In addition Paul lists 4 more appearances of our Lord Jesus to emphasize and verify the message.

Appears to Peter (Cephas): why Peter, perhaps the Lord is concerned about Peter and wanted to give him assurance of forgiveness to the one who had three times denied Christ.

Appears to the Twelve (here is used only in general terms since Judas was not there and neither was Thomas.)

Appears to more than 500: We are not exactly sure when the appearance to the 500 happened. It may have been in Galilee. What is significant about this testimony is the size of the group most of them were still alive when Paul wrote this letter. Why was this significant. They were eyewitnesses who could corroborate Paul’s testimony.

Appears to James: Most believe this was James the brother of Jesus who was not a follower during Jesus earthly ministry. Many believe this possibly was the point that led to James conversion. James eventually would become the leader of the Jerusalem church.

Appears to all the Apostles: Now this reference includes more than the original twelve. Others who knew the Lord Jesus and were witnesses to his resurrection were also called to be apostles.

Last of all Christ appears to Paul: This refers to the conversion of Paul on the Damascus Road. (“to one untimely born”)

Grace Lowers the Estimation that we have of ourselves

vs. 9-11

Notice that Paul mentions Grace three times in verses 9-11. This captures the powerful effect that Grace has on our lives.

Paul is almost ashamed to be mentioned next to such a godly group of men because he was the one who persecuted the church and dragged Christians off to be imprisoned and executed.

Another part of preaching the gospel to yourself is remembering where you have been. Once we remember where we have been we truly embrace the Grace of God and are humbly thankful for what he has saved us out of and what he has saved us to.

The person who truly lowers the estimation they have of themselves become some of the greatest warriors for the kingdom of God. Those who merely show up on Sunday and think God should be so proud of them because they dragged themselves out of bed this morning and God should be grateful that they made such a sacrifice do not truly understand the grace of God for a worm such as I.

Grace Exalts the Transforming Power of God.

Paul saw himself as little to nothing, but if he was anything it is by the grace of God alone.

This is when our humble service to God begins. We give to God what he first gives to us. It is like a child going to her father and asking. ‘Daddy, may I please have $10?’ Why does a little girl like you need all that money?’ the father replies. ‘Oh, Daddy, I want to buy you a birthday present!’ What does the father do? He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the money.

The little girl loves her daddy. She wants to give him a nice present for his birthday, but she has not resources of her own. That is what we are like. We want to serve our heavenly Father but how on earth can we do it? We serve only by grace, and our heavenly Father delights to give that grace to us.

The whole purpose of preaching the gospel to ourselves everyday is to keep us focused on the goal.

IMAGINE THAT THERE IS NO EASTER

1 Corinthians 15:12–20 ESV

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that 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 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 Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

John Lennon sang:

Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try,

No hell below us, above us only sky,

Imagine all the people living for today.

C.S. Lewis described a land called Narnia as a place where it was alway winter but never Christmas. Imagine.

Lennon wanted his generation to strive for peace and harmony without the burden of God. Lewis, on the other hand, saw the cold, dead bleak, darkness of the world without God in it.

2. We must daily PROCLAIM the gospel to the World.

If the resurrection never happened in any shape or form, then the consequences to Christian faith and discipleship are devastating. To deny the resurrection is to strip the Christian message of its power. We must push people to see the logic of their beliefs, whether those beliefs are orthodox Christianity or heretical teaching.

Note: Here is the major issue. Many Christians have never truly applied their faith either to their ordinary thinking or to their daily behavior. So, those who deviate from sound biblical truth must face up to the implications of what they assert and are denying.

Imagine there is no Easter

Paul now plays devil’s advocate. He moves from the victory and positive message of the resurrection to the bleak and empty hypothetical statement, let’s imagine that there is no resurrection at all.

Look at the words Paul uses to describe such a thought:

1). Empty: Without the resurrection, the gospel preaching is void of any saving content. Empty faith is engaged in fairy-tale land. For the resurrection to be something more than a fairy-tale it must have an objective, historical basis. Many beliefs today run on positive thinking. I think therefore, I am. At the end of the day however, positive thinking will only take you so far before you hit a wall.

Much of our preaching today is empty and void of any substance. No one can call on the Lord to be saved unless they believe he is who he said he was and did what he said he would do. Many people seem to be content with a little talk, a few tips to live a better life, and some positive affirmations to make them feel better about themselves. We need to recapture the power and joy of proclaiming the resurrected Christ.

2). False: Without the reality of the of the resurrection, the apostles and the 500 other witnesses were all False witnesses. They had all perjured themselves in the courtroom of the world. We need Christians today who will stand up for the truth of the word of God. The inerrancy for the truth of scripture ensures us that the facts we read in scripture are variably true.

3) Futile:If Jesus body is still laying in a tomb somewhere outside of Jerusalem, then you stand guilty as charged and condemned to the same fate of eternal death.

God has chosen faith as the means by which we come to Salvation. The means by which we receive the free gift of redemption and pardon from sin and death.

“Faith is the empty hand that receives, the eyes that look, and the mouth that calls upon the name of the Lord.”

A Jesus that remains dead has no power to forgive your sins. (Note: some of the largest religious groups today believe in a dead Jesus who is still in the ground).

4) Lost: in verse 18 Paul turns the focus onto the Corinthians and their lost condition. Those who have passed away are without hope and lost if their is no resurrection. We see this language used by Jesus at the tomb of his good friend Lazarus. We also see this phrase used when Christ was raised from the dead John writes that many who had fallen asleep were raised. We read in Acts that when Stephen was stoned to death he had fallen asleep.

Paul reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 that we do not grieve as others grieve when a fellow believer passes away. The rest of the world grieves without hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again even though we physically die we will be raised again.

5) Pitiable:Paul now introduces his last condition imagining that if our hope in Christ is only a hope for this life then we are to be pitiable.

AS CHRISTIANS WE MUST DEMONSTRATE TO THE WORLD THAT WE ARE NOT PITIABLE PEOPLE.

Our response to the resurrection must be an unbounded joy and assurance in Jesus Christ the Lord of our Salvation. Whether we realize it or not our Joy and Rejoicing play a significant role in our apologetic to the world.

Do we want others to believe in the resurrected Christ? Do we want them to know the hope of Everlasting life?

We must give evidence for that hope when we delight in the our Living Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“But in Fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Paul now gives his emphatic rebuttal of the implications listed. Paul now boldly proclaims the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The New Testament is divided into two ages, the present age and the age to come. When Jesus came, lived, and died, and rose again, he ushered in the last days, the days when God’s promises were fulfilled in him.

God’s ultimate purpose, the full-flowering of his kingdom, however, has not yet arrived. There is an age to come. Christ gained victory over sin and death by his sacrifice on the cross and testified to that victory by the resurrection.

The resurrection is an historical, verifiable reality.

Not only has Christ been raised from the dead he has now become ‘the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’

The First-fruit in Hebrew historic culture when the Israelites would reap their first harvest they would take a sheaf of the first grain. (possibly a cluster of grapes) The day after the Sabath or the first day of the week, now called the Lords day by Christians. The priest would take the sheaf and wave it before God. You might imagine it being back and forth like you would wave a giant flag. However the waving would have been upward as though he were heaving it in the air.

1). This showed the one who ultimately provides for everything and is the owner of the harvest.

2). The first fruits were not the whole harvest but merely a token of it, symbolizing the greater harvest that is yet to come.

The First fruits of Redemptive history reveals that Christ Resurrection marked the first fruit with the full harvest that is to come at the second resurrection of the living and the dead.

CLOSING

Because of the Resurrection

“The Empty have now become Full”

“What seemed False has become gloriously True”

“The futile are filled with hope.”

“The lost have been Found.”

“The Pitiable turn out to be the Happiest of All.”

Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph o’er His foes, He arose a Victor from the Dark Domain, And He lives forever, With His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!