First Importance

Well, good morning and happy resurrection Sunday

It is always a joy to gather as a church family, but it is especially a joy to gather as a church family to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means for his people.

We live in the reality of the resurrection daily when we follow Jesus by faith, and so we should rightly celebrate it together.

But on a on a Sunday like this one, it's not lost on on us that there are many of you who don't typically attend here

Maybe you came with family, or maybe you came just because, I mean, it's Easter Sunday, like you go to church, right?

That's not lost on us, and we're glad that you're here.

I just want to make sure that you know...

You have not found a group of extraordinary people who have it all together and have something to offer the world

You have found a group of ordinary, broken people who worship an extraordinary God, and he has something to offer to the world, and that is himself.

So it's our hope this morning that we would do nothing more than point you to him

And the way that he designed for us to point to Him as His people is to point to Him through His Word.

So let's take and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians.

If you did not bring a Bible. There should be a Bible somewhere under a seat nearby. 

You can also use a device

But Let's all turn to First Corinthians 15.

And if you don't know where First Corinthians 15 is, just look at your table of contents and it will tell you where to find it.

Now, as we all turn there, I want you to think for a minute about about how easy it is to make small things into big things

Right?

Something is objectively small, but because of how it makes us subjectively feel, it gets really, really big.

Depending on the situation, small things become big things

We just came through tax season, and taxes, objectively, are actually a very small part of life.

it's a percentage of a receipt or a paystub

Filing taxes is an event that comes around once a year

But listen: During tax season, it feels enormous.

It is all-consuming

It weighs on you

And so it feel so much bigger than it actually is and listen… we then give it more attention than it actually deserves.

And we do this with so many things in life

An issue at work

A question about a house

A problem in a relationship

These things are important, to be sure

But in the moment they feel like the most important thing and so they become all-consuming

And when this happens, we neglect those things that are actually more important

We are distracted by our bank account, so we neglect our health

We are distracted by a work situation, so we neglect our families

We are distracted by the world, so we neglect our dependence on God

And in our text this morning, the apostle Paul is going to help us to see the most important thing that we must not neglect

It is a reality that matters more than anything else

And when it matters to me more than anything else, everything else will be in its right place

So let's give these words our full attention.

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 ESV

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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 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. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

These are God’s words for us

Big Idea: Because Jesus is risen, nothing matters more. [9:00]

The resurrection of Jesus Christ in history, 2000 years ago, because it happened, because it is a reality, is the most important thing for us - Nothing matters more. 

If Jesus is risen and I'm following Him by faith, everything else is of lesser importance because I'm fixated on him.

I'm not consumed with the events of my life because he is risen, and that reality impacts the rest of my life.

Other things don't take over.

Too often, we make the resurrection of Jesus less important in our lives

And so lesser things in our lives are treated with greater importance than they should be.

Things that should be submitted to Jesus, are actually forcing us to submit to them because we have made them more important than they should be

And the weight of those things will be crushing, and the hope of those things will be lacking

And you will ultimately be living a life neglecting the most important thing: The reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And so our text this morning tells us three realities about the resurrection that prove to us that it really is the most important thing

That if Jesus is risen, nothing matters more.

And so I want to show them to you

Resurrection realities:

The first resurrection reality that shows that nothing matters more is… 

It is foundational (1-4) [12:00]

The resurrection is foundational to our lives. It's it's not an add-on

You think about a foundation of a house - It is the source and the basis of the structure

It determines the integrity and long-standing nature of a house

If the foundation is compromised, the entire house is compromised.

And so it is with your life - If the foundation of your life is weak, so will your life be

I would encourage you to ask yourself: Do I find an ongoing uncertainty about my life? Am I constantly questioning if I am doing what I should be doing?

It could very well be because you build your life on something else.

Too often Christianity is treated like an idea that gets added on to your existing life

But Paul shows us that it is actually the foundation of our lives, not an add on

It is what we should build our lives upon so that they will stand and endure.

Look at what Paul says:

1 Corinthians 15:1–2 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved…”

Notice it affects all of their life.

It's not just an idea that gets tacked on.

It's a foundational reality that affects their whole life.

“You heard it, you received it, you stand in it, you're being saved by it.”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the reality of his life, death, and resurrection is the foundation upon which your life must be built

It is not simply an add on.

It is the foundation of my marriage

The foundation of my parenting

The foundation of my work life

The foundation of my friendships

The foundation of my identity

The foundation of my hope.

Because Jesus is risen, it impacts all of my life.

But when I treat it as an add on, it cannot help me in any of those things.

And when i treat it as just an add on to my life, it is actually ineffective

Look at what he says:

“if you hold fast so the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain”

What would what would cause somebody to not hold fast to the word that was preached?

It’s that they it wasn’t the foundation

Maybe I heard it, acknowledged it, but I am not standing in it.

I didn't actually receive it.

It is not actually saving me because I didn't truly believe it.

I just acknowledged it.

That's what it means to believe in vain

To do something in vain is to do it cheaply, to do it insignificantly, to treat it as if it doesn't matter.

Listen, it is far too easy and far too common to claim that you believe in Jesus, but it doesn’t actually impact your life in any way, shape or form.

And Paul is saying here that that is believing in vain.

The question that we have to ask is this: Is my belief in Jesus foundational to my life?

Is the reality of the resurrection actually impacting the way that I live because my life is built upon it?

And you might be asking, “Well, what would it look like for my life to be built upon the Gospel?”

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”

It would look like placing all of my hope in those two statements and living as if they are true

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures

That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

I know I am standing in the reality of the resurrection, I have built my life on the foundation of the Gospel when I live in the truth that Jesus, Christ, the Son of God, took on human flesh and lived as a human being,

tempted in every way that you and I are tempted,

struggling in every way that you and I struggle,

human in every way that you and I are human.

But he did what we couldn't do.

He perfectly obeyed God.

He lived perfect obedience with his whole life.

and because he lived a perfect life, he then died in our place to pay for our sin

He lived the perfect life you and I could not live.

He died the death you and I deserved to die.

And he rose from the grave to secure our freedom from sin and death and give us eternal life.

And so I live like it

I build my life upon it

I make my decisions every day because of it

I engage my relationships in light of it

I put aside my own desires and I live for his purposes

Why?

Because he did what I couldn’t do

So live like he has called me to live.

The first resurrection reality is that It is foundational

Jesus live, died, and is risen

And it impacts all of my life.

So I should live like it

But listen to me…

It can only be foundational if it is actually true...

You can’t build a foundation on a lie…

Which leads us to the second resurrection reality…

It actually happened (4-8) [20:00]

Look back at verses 4 through 8.

Paul says Jesus died, was buried, and then—he rose.

And after that?

He appeared!

To his disciples (Cephas - Peter - and the rest of the disciples - “The Twelve”)

And to over 500 people at once!

Now, don’t miss what Paul is doing here. He’s making a historical claim. 

This isn’t poetry.

It’s not myth.

It’s not “spiritual metaphor.”

Paul is saying: “This actually happened. In the real world. With real people. Who you can go talk to.”

Look what he says in v. 6 - “most of whom are still alive.”

Translation - If you don’t believe me, go ask them.

That is so important, because Christianity is not built on a feeling or a philosophy—it is built on a historical event.

Listen: Most religions ask you to believe something that happened in secret, something unverifiable.

Something that can’t be proven, but just needs to be accepted by blind faith.

No, don’t try to verify it - In fact, doubt any evidence.

Just believe.

Not Christianity.

Christianity says, “Fact check it. Test it. Investigate it.”

Why?

Because If Jesus rose from the dead, it validates everything He said.

And it is all true

If He didn’t rise from the dead, the whole thing is a lie.

And the historical truth of the resurrection can make Paul, and every Christian, so bold as to say, “Test it. Verify it.”

Listen: If you are here today and you are skeptical about Christianity, let me just encourage you to test the historical truth of the resurrection.

Prove it wrong!

But if in trying to prove it wrong, you find that it actually happened…

Then that changes everything about your life and because Jesus is risen, nothing matters more…

And for the Christian in the room, testing the historical claim of the resurrection is a means of building up your faith

That you aren’t just believing in a story, but in an event that actually happened

So how do we test the claim that Jesus’ resurrection was a historical event that actually happened?

First, we have to acknowledge that the details written about Jesus were written as historical accounts.

Some people try to claim that Jesus was a myth… that he never actually existed.

But there is a problem with that…

The actual gospel accounts were written by his followers to an audience of people who were aware of the events surrounding Jesus. No one in the first century talked about Jesus as if he was a myth

Everyone knew he was a historical person and the biblical accounts of his life are written as history

So we have no right to treat them as anything other than accounts of historical events, because that is how they were written

Second, the people writing those historical accounts claimed that Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified on a Roman cross

And other non-christian writings from the same time confirm the belief that Jesus rose from the dead

So here is what we can say: there was a widespread belief that people claimed to be eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after being crucified

So the question for us, then, is: How do we explain that belief?

And in trying to explain the belief, you have 4 options:

The disciples stole the body, so the resurrection is a lie

Jesus didn’t die, so the resurrection is a mistake

The disciples all hallucinated because of their grief over Jesus’ death, so the resurrection is an illusion

Jesus actually rose, so the resurrection is true.

Those are our 4 options:

It’s a Lie

It’s a Mistake

It’s an Illusion

It’s true

So, which of these 4 is the most reasonable and plausible?

First option: The disciples stole the body, so the resurrection is a lie

Not likely.

Fear

Soldiers

Even if they did manage to steal the body, what explains their transformation?

Becoming bold, suffering, and being killed for their faith… all for a lie?

Listen: The fact that you'll die for something doesn't prove it true, but nobody's going to die for something they know is a lie.

No, the disciples stealing the body is not a good explanation.

Second option: Jesus didn’t die, so the resurrection is a mistake

Not likely. Roman crucifixion was the most dialed in and effective form of torture and execution the world has ever known.

Crucifixion worked every time they made sure of it.

And even if they thought Jesus had died and so they pulled him down off the cross, the crucifixion process itself was so brutal to the human body, and without modern medicine, in the first century, you would absolutely succumb to your injuries alone and die.

So the idea that Jesus didn't die on the cross doesn't work either.

Third option: The disciples all hallucinated because of their grief over Jesus’ death, so the resurrection is an illusion

Not likely.

I don't know about you, but 500 people having the same hallucination would itself be a miracle, and miracle isn't a good way to explain away a miracle.

None of these options could actually work when you consider the actual historical facts.

The tomb was empty.

The body was never found.

Jesus appeared after he rose.

The disciples were transformed.

The movement exploded across the ancient world.

And the most plausible explanation is still the same one Paul gives right here=

That the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually happened.

And if the resurrection happened, then every claim that the Bible makes that is attached to the resurrection is also true

Because the tomb is empty, you and I have been born again to a living hope

Because the tomb is empty, your sins are actually paid for

Because the tomb is empty, the power of sin and shame is actually broken

Because the tomb is empty, you can know that the promises and blessings of God actually belong to you when you follow Jesus by faith

And because the resurrection actually happened, and so every claim that is attached to the resurrection is actually true…

That means that your whole life can be different when you embrace the truth of the resurrection

Which leads to the third resurrection reality…

It changes my life (9-11) [31:00]

Because the resurrection is foundational to the Christian life, and because it actually happened, it changes my life.

Look at what Paul says, starting in v. 9

1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

Paul murdered and arrested Christians.

He absolutely did evil to those who followed Jesus, yet God saved him.

He was an opponent of God's people, but God changed him and used him, and it was all God's grace,

He says, I'm unworthy to be called an apostle, which is true

But in v. 10 he says, “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.”

The “grace of God” is the unmerited favor that he pours out on us, though you and I don't deserve it.

His grace toward us means that he gives us access to himself, and as he brings us to Himself, he changes us.

Throughout Scripture, drawing near to God is the means by which God transforms people

But you and I cannot draw near to him on our own, without his help.

And the resurrection proves that Jesus really did pay for your sins

And the resurrection proves that the barrier between us and God is taken away

So we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, knowing that God made a way for us to be made right with him by forgiving our sins and making us new

Because the grave is empty, I can know that I can go to God freely and he will change me

And it will change my marriage

And it will change my attitude

And it will change my habits and my addictions

It will change my desires

Because God is making me new as I live in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I don't know what's in your past or what's in your present, but the resurrection will change your life.

We just got done listening to beautiful baptism testimonies of the way that lives were changed because of the reality that Jesus is alive

The resurrection confronts us with the fact that dead things can be made alive again by the power of God

If today, you look at your life and you say some of the same things that those testimonies said:

I am self-absorbed and nothing ever satisfies me.

Things aren’t right in my life.

My marriage is a mess.

I can't do it anymore.

Friend, if that's you, look at the empty tomb.

God takes dead things and makes them alive

He takes shattered things and makes them beautiful.

He takes sinful life and makes it clean.

He takes shame and turns it to joy.

He takes what is misused and abused and he repurposes it for good and for His glory.

Because the tomb is empty, when you turn to him and give him your life, he will change your life.

Perhaps you need to be reminded of the empty tomb

Perhaps you need to look at it for the first time

Either way, when we embrace the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it changes our lives.

[CONCLUSION]

But what we must not do is we must not look at our lives that so desperately need to change and say,

“I'm not going to worry about that today… I have other things that are more important.”

No, because Jesus is risen, nothing matters more.

It's foundational

It really happened

It will change your life.

The most foolish thing any person in this room could do is pretend like that doesn't matter.

So we, as a church family and as guests, we all need to take a moment and consider:

What am I going to do with the resurrection in my life?

What things am I making too big so that I'm neglecting the reality of Jesus as the risen Savior?

If you are a Christian, that's going to mean that you need to repent of things that you have put above Jesus, and you need to ask him to get your priorities back in line.

If you are not a Christian, it's going to mean that you need to repent for the first time and ask for forgiveness of your sins and give your life to Him.

Either way, the resurrection of Jesus Christ demands a response from us

Because Jesus is risen, so nothing matters more.

Amen.

[36:00]