Let’s Be Clear

As we have walked through 1 Corinthians, we have seen that the church at Corinth was confused about a wide range of issues.

Thus far, has spent 14 chapters helping the Corinthians sort out the chaos and confusion they inherited from their culture and pointing them to Christ.

In the most recent section, Paul has addressed the people in Corinth who were all about doing things in worship to draw attention to themselves.

In chapter 15, Paul addresses the last major topic in the letter.

He is clearing up confusion around the topic of resurrection.

Unlike some of the other topics he covered in the letter, Paul doesn’t seem to be responding to a question they wrote him about, but it appears someone told him that some in Corinth taught that there was no resurrection of the dead.

He is going to spend the rest of the chapter trying to explain to the church how vitally important resurrection is.

We know from Paul’s discussion with the philosophers in Athens in Acts 17 that the resurrection was a sticking point for some people in Paul’s day, and it appears those same philosophies had fou

nd their way to Corinth.

In Corinth, they don’t seem to be denying Jesus’s resurrection directly as much as denying resurrection in general.

A lot of people in those days believed the soul was immortal but the body just died.

The Christian doctrine of the resurrection challenged that understanding and the Corinthians were confused.

Paul is going to answer their question from a variety of different angles in this chapter.

In the passage we are looking at this morning, he starts by reminding them what they should already have known, and that is that the resurrection of Jesus is central to the message the apostles preach, and it is foundational to the message they believed.

As we look at what he says this morning, we want to make sure that we are clear about the message of the gospel and the messengers who share it.

Those of us who stand in this pulpit are not apostles, but we have the privilege of proclaiming the same message they did.

If you are here this morning and you are a Christian, this is what you put your hope in and proclaim.

If you are here and not yet a Christian, what you are going to here today is the most incredible truth in all of history, and I consider myself fortunate that I have the privilege of sharing it with you today.

With that said, let’s dive in and read the passage.

We are going to cover the first 11 verses today, but let’s start with reading 1 Corinthians 15:1-8…

To sort out our concerns about the resurrection, Paul starts off with this challenge:

1) Be clear about the message.

Paul sets the stage by saying that he wants make something clear to the Corinthians.

The verb he uses here implies that Paul isn’t teaching them something they don’t know. Instead, he is reminding them of something that they should know and that they claim to know.

What is that? The gospel.

We will get into some specifics in a minute, but the gospel is the good news about what God has done for us.

Look in verses 1-2 at what Paul says about this message:

It is what he preached

It is what they received and believed

It is what they are currently trusting in

It is what they are being saved forever by

This message isn’t just some cursory set of concepts.

No, as Tim Keller and others have said,

“The gospel is not the ABCs of salvation; it is the A-to-Zs of salvation.”

Just like the believers in Corinth, the message we are talking about today is the same one we are trusting in.

It’s the one I first remember hearing as a 9 year old boy, and it is the message that I trust today, that I stand on, and that I will trust in forever.

So, what is that message?

Read it again in verses 3-5.

Paul uses similar language to his statements about the Lord’s Supper from chapter 11.

As he addresses the Corinthian challenge that the resurrection doesn’t matter, he reminds them that this isn’t just something Paul came up with off the cuff.

In fact, many commentators believe Paul may be quoting here from a statement that believers before him came up as a way to help people remember what the gospel was all about.

He passed the message along to them that he had received, and it was the most important thing he told them.

The gospel is articulated here in four phrases.

First, he says that the gospel declares:

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”

There is so much tied up in this short phrase that we could spend all day parking right here.

The first aspect of the gospel message is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins.

Every single one of us is born in sin and chooses to depart from God’s plan and do things our way.

The Bible makes it clear that what we deserve for that is death.

Jesus took our sin on the cross and died in our place, taking my death and your death upon himself.

The gospel is the declaration that Christ died for our sins.

Paul said that Jesus’s death was “according to the Scriptures.”

While some folks point to specific verses that point to Jesus suffering for sin, it is likely that Paul is referring here to the whole teaching of the Old Testament.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see that sin requires a sacrifice, that people turn from God and that he is gracious and merciful, promising to one day send someone to deliver them from their sin.

When Christ died for our sins, it was in fulfillment of all those pictures and promises.

Paul follows that statement with the reminder that

“He was buried”

That may seem like a no-brainer, but this sentence drives home the reality that Jesus really did physically die.

He wasn’t just “mostly dead” like in the Princess Bride; he was dead and laid in a sealed tomb.

The Corinthians needed that reminder because they were questioning whether or not God raised people from the dead.

The message of the gospel is clear: Jesus has been raised from the dead, which is what Paul says next:

“He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”

Dying isn’t that hard to do—people die every day.

Sometimes, people even die to save other people.

Jesus didn’t stay dead, though!

God raised Jesus from the dead, proving that he had paid the debt for my sin and yours.

We deserved to die, and Jesus died in our place. He was physically raised from the dead because he paid our debt for sin fully; there was no more death left for him!

The sacrifice had been paid and God raised him from the dead.

Just like his death, Christ’s resurrection is the culmination of all the promises of deliverance and redemption throughout the Old Testament.

It is a clear demonstration of the character of God as giving and kind and gracious.

Paul goes on to say that…

“He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve”

Cephas is another name for Peter, and the Twelve is the technical term for the guys who followed Jesus around during his earthly ministry.

His burial demonstrated that he was really dead; now his appearances showed that he was really alive.

The Corinthians wondered whether or not God could raise the dead, and here was their proof: Jesus appeared to Peter, the Twelve, five hundred followers at once, James, and all the apostles.

Some of these people had died, but many were still alive and could tell you what they saw.

Jesus didn’t just appear to one or two people; he appeared to 500 at one time!

The gospel is that incredible message that Christ died for our sins, was buried, was raised, and appeared to people.

That is the message Paul preached and that the Corinthians believed.

For some, then, to claim that God didn’t raise the dead would require abandoning the primary message that Paul preached and they believed.

So here’s a question for you this morning: are you clear on the message of the gospel?

The gospel isn’t that God will give you salvation if you try really hard or are really sincere.

The gospel isn’t that Jesus came to get us to love each other and we should all just get along.

The gospel impacts the way we live and treat other people, absolutely.

However, the gospel itself is the message that Christ died for your sins, was buried, was raised, and was seen by people.

Today, if you will stop trying to live life on your terms and surrender to Christ, seeking his forgiveness and trusting in his death and resurrection, surrendering control of your life to follow him, you can have new life.

This is the gospel message.

Are we clear on that?

Having made sure the church was clear on the gospel, Paul turns to talk about himself for a few minutes.

Let’s do the same and make sure that we are…

2) Be clear about the messenger.

In verse 8-11, Paul talks about how the resurrection impacted his own life.

Let’s read them together. <<Read verses 8-11>>

Paul was the last one to see the resurrected Christ.

The phrase “as to one born at the wrong time” is a poignant but painful picture.

This word is often used of babies who were born prematurely and were stillborn, miscarried, or aborted.

While there are several possibilities as to what Paul is intending to communicate here, he may be using this term to highlight how powerfully God’s grace worked in him.

He is telling the Corinthians that God made him alive when he was as helpless as a stillborn child.

Paul points the Corinthians to the reality that he had nothing to merit life and apostleship.

He was helpless and unformed, and yet he says it is the grace of God that made him alive, called him as an apostle, and equipped him to proclaim the gospel of the death and resurrection of Christ.

Putting this in context, he is establishing that God is a God who gives life, something they were not fully convinced of.

I mean, look at the grace God displayed. Read verse 9 again.

He was so far from God that he thought persecuting God’s people was the right thing to do!

And yet, in the immeasurable grace of God, Jesus appeared to Paul, saved him, called him, and used him.

God’s grace wasn’t in vain—what God did in Paul enabled Paul to work hard for the cause of Christ.

He isn’t bragging here; he is highlighting how powerfully God’s grace worked in taking him from dead and a persecutor of the church and making him an apostle.

One commentator said Paul’s hard work is like when a child buys a birthday present for their parent with money that their parent gave them. [2]

He only did what God enabled him to do, but God enabled him to do a tremendous amount, even though he was hopeless when God called him!

He sums it all up in verse 11.

This message—that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and appeared to hundreds of people—is the message of the gospel.

That is the message Paul preached, it was the message the rest of the apostles preached, and it is the message we preach here today.

We are not apostles, but we have the privilege of proclaiming that same messsage.

Jeff has quoted this verse multiple times recently because it is foundational to our discipleship at Northstar:

Colossians 1:28 CSB

We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

When we stand up here and tell you that Jesus died and rose for you, we are standing with believers throughout history and around the world today.

Like Paul, Jeff, Matt, I, and anyone else who stand in this pulpit were dead in our trespasses and sins and God in his grace made us alive and gave us the privilege of proclaiming the gospel.

It is by his grace that we are what we are, not by anything we have done.

Don’t forget that every believer has the right and the responsibility to share the gospel with those around them. It isn’t just for those who God has called to lead a church.

Quick side note: If you are a part of a church that does not preach and teach this message, you need to find a new church. This is the gospel, and it is the message we must believe in order to be saved.

This morning, we have another way we proclaim the message of Christ’s death on our behalf.

On the night before Jesus died, he ate one final meal with his disciples where he instructed them to take the bread and the cup together.

We call that “Communion” or “the Lord’s Supper,” and we are going to do that together today.

1 Corinthians 11:26 CSB

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

In just a moment, we are going to give you some time to quietly reflect on the death of Christ on your behalf.

When I tell you to, the first two rows in each section will stand up and head toward the outside of the auditorium.

When you get to the front, take a piece of bread and a cup and return to your seat.

There, reflect again on what Christ has done. You might even pray quietly with your family or the friends you came with.

When you are ready, eat the bread and drink the cup.

If you are in the back sections, you may want to go to join whatever line seems shorter.

Let’s pray…

Endnotes:

[2] Robertson and Plummer, quoted in David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT (Baker Academic, 2003).