Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (2)

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 NIV

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 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 that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Sermon: Do You Really

If you’ve ever done a study of the book of Corinthians, you will know what a mess that church was. Our Bible includes two letters from Paul to this local church and it’s believed there were others. There were some major issues within the life of this congregation. Issues like division among the people especially in regards to which leader they followed, there were issues because some people were adopting a worldly view and approach and influencing others in the church to do the same. Which caused many in the church to be spiritually immature. Because they weren’t digging into the faith and into the wisdom of God, they were easily confused and not able to receive what Paul calls spiritual meat.

Now, not only was there spiritual immaturity, there was also sexual immorality. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:1 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.” The church was acting in a way that was distasteful even to the world. Now, this should not be surprising to anyone. When a person is spiritually immature they will accept behaviors that a spiritually mature person will not. In fact, the closer we walk to God, the more aware we are of behaviors and habits that are displeasing to Him.

Furthermore, there were lawsuits among believers. Not only was there divisions, but one person would sue another instead of trying to deal with the problem quietly. There were questions about marriage, whether it was better to marry or stay single, there were questions about what food was okay to eat, there were questions about Paul’s authority versus the authority of others, there were issues as to proper conduct in worship and Paul gives a whole message regarding the taking of the Lord’s supper.

The church in Corinth also fought over spiritual gifts. While they agreed God gave His believers each gifts, they argued over which gift was most important. They thought there would be a hierarchy in the gifts, one more important than another. But Paul spent time as we heard last week explaining that the greatest gift was love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Now, while love is the greatest gift, that love is rooted in the gospel. And Paul opens chapter 15 of this letter with these words, 1 Corinthians 15:1 “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.” This gospel is not just another story or fable, upon which we place our faith. This gospel is the very salvation of our souls. Paul said, 1 Corinthians 15:2 “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”

But what is this gospel? It is what Paul preached. And what did he preach? Jesus Christ. And not just the nice and good stories about Jesus but how He died for our sins. Paul was pointing to the cross and the significance of that event. We say Jesus died on the cross as easily as saying it rained yesterday but the fact that Jesus died on the cross is so much more significant than the way we say it. Paul says His death is a fulfillment of the scriptures. But Paul goes on. Not only did Christ die on the cross, He rose again from the dead. The tomb is empty. But how do we know someone didn’t just take His body from the tomb? Because Paul says, after He was crucified, dead, and buried. He rose from the dead and was witnessed by this list of people.

They didn’t doubt He was crucified. They didn’t question His burial. But if there was any question of His resurrection, it was resolved with those who witnessed His appearance.