A Life Transformed by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

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.

1 Corinthians 15:20–26 (ESV)

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

1 Corinthians 15:51–58 (ESV)

51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where 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 beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Two thousand years after the death and Resurrection of Christ, 3 billion people around the world identify as followers of Jesus.

The message he brought has spread to Europe, Asia, and every other continent.

The chance of that spread without the jolting event we celebrate as Easter is vanishingly small. Before his resurrection, Jesus’ few followers were denying him and hiding from the temple police. Even afterward, Thomas doubted until he saw proof in flesh and scars. But as they came to understand what had happened in the Resurrection, the disciples were able to glimpse Jesus’ cosmic view.

Muslim author Reza Aslan, who argues that it’s “impossible to know” exactly what happened after Jesus’s death, nonetheless recognizes the significance of these considerations.

He writes:

One could simply . . . dismiss the resurrection as a lie and declare belief in the risen Jesus to be the product of a deludable mind.

However, there is this nagging fact to consider: one after another of those who claimed to have witnessed the risen Jesus went to their own gruesome deaths refusing to recant their testimony.

That is not, in itself, unusual.

Many zealous Jews died horribly for refusing to deny their beliefs.

But these first followers of Jesus were not being asked to reject matters of faith based on events that took place centuries, if not millennia, before.

They were being asked to deny something they themselves personally, directly encountered.1

When they began to face persecution and even death, why would they continue to affirm what they knew to be a lie?

The best explanation is that they truly believed they had seen Jesus risen from the dead, whether or not their belief was correct.

That’s how the Resurrection of Jesus impacted the early disciples . They were willing to give their lives. Willing to Die. They proved the authenticity of the Resurrection.

If you believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ -

How do You Benefit is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Paul, in the first few verses, tries to explain if you’re going to get the benefits of the resurrection in your life,

if it’s really going to make a difference in your life if it’s going to change you,

You have to believe it actually happened.

The Apostle Paul, the writer here, chooses specific verbs

when he says, “I received,” and “I passed on to you.” …

These verbs mean,

“I researched, I got the information, and I passed it on. I talked to the eyewitnesses.

I talked to 500 Christians who are still alive when I’m writing this,” which is 20 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, “

who are still there. You can still go and ask them.

When Paul makes this public claim in a publicly circulated letter, he says, “

Look, there are 500 witnesses. Go and talk to them if you want.

They all saw Jesus immediately after being raised from the dead.”

What is Paul doing?

He is saying it matters whether you believe it really happened.

Video https://youtu.be/f58MZiFPuuo Did Jesus Physically Rise from the Dead?

When you deal in your life with difficult and disorienting circumstances, concrete trials, and real death coming at you, unless you believe in a concrete, real, physical, literal historical resurrection, it will not impact you, and you’re not going to be any different.

You won’t be able to handle real trouble unless you believe in a real resurrection.

You can’t believe the resurrection was just a beautiful symbol but didn’t happen literally or physically.

20” But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,”

“Indeed he has risen, really risen, actually risen;”

his body rekindled, and he walked out.

Paul is here saying the reason he lays all these verses down in the very beginning is that

-unless you believe it, it’s not going to change you.

That’s the first point.

What did the Resurrection Accomplish?

1. The Resurrection Rendered Death Powerless

1 Corinthians 15:17 (ESV)

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

would you agree?

Death is unnatural.

Death isn’t right. We don’t want to die.

We don’t want to see our loved ones die.

There’s something abnormal about it.[1]

“When Jesus Christ died,” Paul says, “if he didn’t rise, you’re still in your sins.” Why? Here’s why.

If Jesus Christ had died, death would still be owed, and death would still have authority, but when Jesus Christ rose … justice was paid, and judgment has been paid.

When Jesus Christ died, he rendered everything necessary; therefore, “Death in vain …” Death has no power.

Death has no authority over us, and therefore, condemnation is done.

the wages of death for our sins have been paid

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where 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.

The resurrection means condemnation is over.

The resurrection means your sins have been paid for.

It is truly over, you don’t have feel good about your failures, your sin they are finished by the shed blood of Christ and His resurrection from the dead.

Illustration from the OT

if you go to the Old Testament, on one day of the year, all the people gathered and the high priest came on Yom Kippur He went into the veil.

What was behind the veil? The Holy of Holies.

Where was he going?

He was going to atone for the sins of the people, and everybody was nervous. Why? Because he was going back before the raw presence of God.

Would the sacrifice be acceptable?

So everybody waited with bated breath. He went to almost his certain death. He went into the veil, but after he had made the sacrifice, every year, he came out. He came through, and everybody rejoiced.

Why? Because it meant their sins had been atoned for.

That was happening every year, over and over again, as the book of Hebrews says, in a way that can never completely satisfy the conscience.

When Jesus Christ went into the earth and came out, God said to everybody, “Your sins have been paid in full.”

That’s the reason why, on the one hand, without the resurrection you have absolutely no confidence that God looks at you right now and is satisfied and accepts you.

On the other hand,

The resurrection does not just prove something is over; it proves something has begun.

because in verses 20–23, twice we’re told

The way the Bible talks about that is by using a term called “firstfruits.”

Jesus Christ is the firstfruits. its just getting started but it has started for real

1 Corinthians 15:20–23 (ESV)

23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

What are the firstfruits?

We live in a world of life and truth and beauty. But it’s far from the ideal world.

and this is the real world, and everybody knows there’s a concrete slab between the real world and the ideal world, but

When Jesus rose from the dead this was not just a naked display of power.

This was the ideal breaking into the real.

Jesus Christ is the firstfruits.

What are the firstfruits?

The firstfruit is the first thing out of the garden.

It’s the first thing out of the grain harvest.

It’s the first fruit of the vine.

It’s what’s about to come.

It’s the reality.

It’s really part of the harvest, even though it’s not in there in fullness.

What it means is the future of God has landed.

In the resurrection, a hole was punched in the pitiless walls of the world, and

Into a world of decay has come immortality, and into a world of darkness has come light.

When Jesus Christ says,

“Believe in me and you will receive the resurrection into your life,”

this is not just, you’re going to get inspired; you’re going to get a little happy.

He’s going to give you strength to go through the day.[2]

2. The resurrection has brought the future into the present.

The resurrection has brought you your justification.

So what’s over?

Condemnation and judgment are gone forever.

What has begun?

The kingdom. [4]

The firstfruits of what?

The kingdom first, then, and finally, the full kingdom.

That’s what verses 20–24 say. Let’s get to the last point, because Paul is basically saying all of this to get to the end.[5]

Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

What difference does this make in the way we live?

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

How do you deal with the troubles of life?

Do you stiffen your upper lip?

Do you say, “I’m going to be tough”?

Do you say, “I’m a Christian? I’m not going to let this get to me”?

That’s not what Paul does. Paul doesn’t say, “Stiffen your upper lip and let nothing move you.”

What is the therefore referring to? Therefore is all the theology of 1 Corinthians 15.

When Paul says, “I want you to become strong,”

Paul doesn’t say, “Just defy the world.” He says, “Think until the glory of what God has done overwhelms you.”

It’s very holistic.

“Get your mind engaged until your heart gets so overflowing that your will becomes absolutely, overwhelmingly strong.”

The little word therefore is referring back to all of 1 Corinthians, and what he’s really doing …

The way most of us deal with trouble is we defy.

It’s just totally stoic. We work right with the will. Not Paul.

Paul says you need hope, and hope only comes from understanding the resurrection really happened and what it did. [6]

To be defiant is to be self-absorbed. To say, “I’m not going to sweat. I’m not going to sweat. I’m going to be okay. I’m going to be strong.[7]

What is the resurrection?

It’s your receipt.

Because you see, you’re going to get lots of questions.

You’re going to get questions from the world,

you’re going to get questions from the flesh, and you’re going to get questions from the Devil.

The questions will come like this. It’ll say, “If anybody knew the kind of thoughts that go through my heart. Wow! I can’t believe it. are you really a christian?

Your heart will come and say, “What makes you think God loves you? Why would God love you?” As your heart starts to sink,

You pull out your receipt, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you say,

“Trouble me not. I’m paid for. I’m free and clear.”

You can say this to the world, the flesh, your own heart, the Devil, whatever. go pound sand

Everything has been paid in full, so don’t let your sins and your flaws get you down.

Don’t let them move you. Don’t let them throw you. See?

“Be Immovable.”[8]

The doctrine of the resurrection is the firstfruits, but only the firstfruits.

In other words, the future of God has landed, which means incredible power is available to see all sorts of things change, but it’s only the beginning; it’s only the firstfruits.

God hasn’t come in his fullness.

There is still tons and tons of brokenness.

There is still tons and tons of death.

There are all kinds of problems.[9]

You Look around at life and see how bad it is.” So you give up hope. You get cynical. You say, “Well, what can you expect?

” You harden yourself because you don’t want to be disappointed, but Christians won’t do that.”

Don’t let the reality of sin, brokenness, and death throw you.

It’s a historic fact that when the epidemics swept through the Roman cities in the first, second, and third centuries AD … The plagues came through, and the pagans, though they didn’t have germ theory, they knew if you kept contact with someone who was sick, you were going to die too.

The plagues were probably smallpox, and they were terrible.

Of all the people in the major Roman cities, 25 to 33 percent died during the epidemics.

We’re told what pagans did was those who had the means got out of the city.

It was very, very normal when a member of your own family got sick to, even before he or she was dead, throw them in the street, but Christians did not leave.

Christians picked up not only their own sick and stayed in the city and cared for them, but they picked up the pagan sick … touching them, lifting them up, their sores oozing onto their hands … knowing this probably meant they might die, but they stayed.

Historians will show you Christians because they stayed,

because they weren’t afraid

because they cared for the sick and the dying and the poor, not only their own but also of pagans;

it had an enormous impact on the people. It had an enormous impact on society.

It made Christians incredibly credible.

Here’s the question. Why did they stay and the pagans left?

Was it because Christians were better people. No.

They believed in the resurrection.

It had pierced their heart like a shaft.

and they looked around.

There was oppression, there was disease, and there was death, and they said, “What?

The shadow is a passing thing compared to a light and high beauty, and because the resurrection happened, we know it’s there.

Therefore, what if I die? Come on, death. Give me your best shot. Do your worst. The lower you lay me, the higher you’ll raise me. The worst you can do is make me better.”

As George Herbert said, “Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardener.”

The other reason they picked up the bodies was that

The resurrection doesn’t just make you unafraid of death and willing to handle suffering; the resurrection also means the body matters.

Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth not to deliver us from the body, but to mend the body.

Jesus Christ took a body, and he raised a body. He didn’t discard the body.

Not just the soul, but the body is the object of God’s redemptive purposes, and if Jesus Christ would go to all the suffering and come all the way not just to redeem your soul, but your body, then Christians see people who are hungry, people who are poor, people who are diseased …

The resurrection means God does not just want your soul saved, but he wants your body mended, and

Christians are in the world not just to save people’s souls, but to bring healing into every aspect of life, to deal with every aspect of sin.

“Let nothing move you.” “Therefore …” Do you understand this? To the degree you do, nothing will move you.[10]

Conclusion

Christ was raised, and I will be raised with him. Therefore, nothing suffered for Jesus is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The hope of resurrection radically changed the way Paul lived.

It freed Paul from materialism and consumerism.

It gave him the power to go without the comforts and pleasures that many people feel they must have in this life.

This is the way Jesus said the hope of the resurrection is supposed to change our behavior.

For example, he told us to invite people who cannot pay us back to our homes in this life.

How can we be motivated to do this?

“You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14).

This is a radical call for us to look hard at our present lives to see if the hope of the resurrection shapes them.

Do we make decisions based on gain in this world, or gain in the next?

Do we take risks for love’s sake that can only be explained as wise if there is a resurrection?

May God help us rededicate ourselves for a lifetime and let the resurrection have its radical effects.

[1]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [2]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [3]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [4]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [5]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [6]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [7]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [8]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [9]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [10]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

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