The Importance of The Resurrection

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome to First Christian Church. We are so glad that you are with us today to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a great day to be together, and I'm excited for us to take a look at 1 Corinthians 15 this morning. We'll start in verse 12. You can go ahead and turn there with me today.

Throughout life, we learn new skills. Whether it's a skill for work or you pick up a new hobby, we learn new things all the time. No matter the thing you are learning, you will have to start at the beginning to become better at that thing. Unless you are naturally gifted at something, we all have to start with the foundation of it.

Most of the time, those foundational lessons are vital to the skill overall. To be a professional in anything, you have to have the foundation built around a vital skill for that profession.

I really enjoy playing and watching disc golf. You have maybe seen a disc golf basket in a park before and wondered what it was. It is just like golf, but instead of hitting a ball, you are throwing a disc. I have one here to show you. It sounds easy to do, but each disc is different. You can’t just throw it like a Frisbee at the beach, or you will be frustrated and give up. You have to take the time to learn how to throw it correctly to get the disc to do what you want it to do. Learning this foundational skill is vital to learning to play well.

For us as believers, followers of Jesus, that vital information, the vital piece of our faith that sets us apart, is the resurrection of Jesus. Today, in 1 Corinthians 15, we will be talking about the significance of the resurrection. Would you join me in prayer this morning?

PRAY

What Does the Resurrection Mean?

Let’s start by looking at 1 Corinthians 15:12-22 this morning:

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. 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.

1 Corinthians 15:12–22.

We talked about the first part of Chapter 15 before, but it is simply a description of what the gospel is. Paul explains the resurrection of Jesus in the first 11 verses and then brings us to the verses we read today.

Paul now speaks to the truth of the resurrection. The resurrection, the idea that someone could be raised from the dead, and specifically Jesus, was not a widespread teaching. In fact, when we look at the times of Jesus and the early church, one of the big religious groups in the land, the Sadducees, were known to not teach or believe in the idea of the resurrection. While we may not think it to be a controversial topic today, at the time it was.

When we are speaking of the resurrection, we are talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we read about in the Gospel accounts. This is how it is recorded in Matthew 28:

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Matthew 28:1–10.

These ten verses from Matthew 28 are world-changing. From here, the Church launches forth. I’m not sure if we always appreciate the significance of what is happening here. Just days before, Jesus was dead. He was not just kind of dead. He was dead. He had died a gruesome, terrible death. To be crucified was not a kind way to die. And here, 3 days later, He rises again. He is resurrected. The world is changed forever because of this resurrection. Not only are lives going to be changed through the Gospel, but we now have the hope of our coming resurrection because Jesus has been resurrected.

We proclaim the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, knowing that this resurrection gives us the ground for our resurrection. It is our coming hope that there will be a resurrection of the body, and we will be glorified in eternity with Jesus. The resurrection is vital to our faith. So, what does the resurrection mean to us?

Without it, this is all in vain.

The first thing that the resurrection means to us is that without it, this is all in vain. Look back to verse 14 and 15:

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith in in vain. 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.

1 Corinthians 15:14-15

If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then all that we do is in vain. How important is the resurrection? It is the lynch pin of our faith. Without the news of the resurrection, we are doing nothing. Our work is in vain. Our faith is in vain. The resurrection changes everything about our lives. If Jesus is not resurrected, we are no different than any other religion.l

Paul even goes so far as to say that without the resurrection, we would be found to be misrepresenting God. To deny the resurrection of the saints would be to call God a liar. This has big implications for who God is and how we view God, if we are to claim that Jesus has been resurrected but we are not. To be a Christian is to believe that the resurrection is true. If we are worshipping in vain then that will lead to the second point.

We Have No Hope

Why is the resurrection important? Because without the resurrection, we have no hope. Look back at verses 17-19:

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.

1 Corinthians 15:17–19.

If our worship is in vain, then our faith is futile, we are still in our sins, and have only enough hope for this life. What would cause all of this to be true? If the resurrection was not true.

What is our faith? It can be defined as active trust and belief displayed through obedience. What is our trust and belief in? It is in Jesus! But faith is more than just belief in Jesus. To believe that Jesus is real is no greater than what the demons believe:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

James 2:19.

Faith is more than simple belief. Even the demons believe in Jesus, but they do not have faith in Him! Our call to those who do not know Jesus is not simply to believe but to put your faith in Him.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12.

It is our faith in Jesus that changes everything. We are saved by the grace of God, through our faith in Him, just as Ephesians 2:8 says:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9.

Our faith is not just what saves us, but as we grow in our faith, we start to live it out in our lives. Our faith produces our works as the Spirit grows us in maturity in faith. James tells us this in his letter:

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:26.

A.W. Tozer, an American pastor from the middle part of the last century, said it this way:

The Christian church is helpless and hopeless if it is stripped of the reality and historicity of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ 2

A. W. Tozer

We Christians are the Church and whatever we do is what the Church is doing. The matter, therefore, is for each of us a personal one. Any forward step in the Church must begin with the individual.17

A. W. Tozer

Our faith also propels our works. We go out and do because of the faith we have in Jesus. That should be our driving force in our hearts. I go and do because Jesus went and did for me. Why do you serve? Why do you share? Are you serving and sharing? Have you invited anyone to church? Have you shared the Gospel with someone? Your sanctification process, becoming more like Jesus, should be directing you to these markers. Your faith should be pushing you to go and do.

Jesus is the only path to salvation. It is His death for our sins and His resurrection that conquered death, hell, and the grave that we have faith in. Without this faith, our only hope is the here and now, and that is no hope at all. Without the truth of the resurrection, the best we have is what we see in front of us. Verse 19 even said that we should be pitied if this were to be true. We would be devoting our lives to a lie, to a false religion, following something that offers no hope at all for anything.

But with the resurrection, this all changes. Verses 20-22 tell us of the beautiful truth of the resurrection.

With The Resurrection…

Let’s look at the final verses in this section:

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.

1 Corinthians 15:20–22.

Paul ends the hypothetical situation of there being no resurrection right here. We can forget all of the ‘what ifs’ and focus on the reality. Jesus was raised from the dead. And because he was, the world was forever changed. What does the resurrection mean? It means that there is now life where there was once death. We can have new life and a new creation through the sacrifice of Jesus. That should get our blood pumping and our hearts beating a little, church!

With the truth of the resurrection, we can know that everything has changed. World history was forever changed by the resurrection of Jesus. And even more amazing then world history, I have been forever changed by the resurrection. If you know Jesus as your savior, you too have been forever changed. And if you are here today and you have never put your faith in Jesus as your savior, you can be forever changed today.

The resurrection has changed everything. Death is defeated. Just as Paul says here in verses 21 and 22. Death was brought into the world through one man. That is Genesis 2 and 3. Adam and Eve disobey God, and they sin. They break the one rule they had been given, and it ushers in sin to our world as we know it. With sin comes death. Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Death is defeated. Today, we are all destined for eternity. We will spend eternity somewhere, either with God or apart from Him. And the bible tells us that if you do not know Jesus as Savior, not just believe Him but put your faith in Him, you are spiritually dead. But through the death and resurrection of one man, we have hope. We have new life. We have the promise of an eternity in the presence of God. We have payment for our sins. We have forgiveness.

Church, this morning we should be encouraged by this foundational truth: the resurrection changed everything, even me. What a powerful statement to know is true. What a charge for us as we continue on in our journey in this life, pressing on to the high calling of Jesus Christ.

And if you do not know Jesus, my plea for you today is to not just believe in Him, but put your faith in Him.