What is Most Important- 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
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Introduction
Introduction
Easter is a special Sunday. On Easter Sunday we slow down to remember and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.
But what if I told you that wasn’t something that we should only do one sunday a year? What if I told you that early christians celebrated Easter EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY?
In the Early Church- and we’re talking like first century here- Christians would gather together and they would fast every Friday and pray. They would pray for their communities, for their loved ones, for themselves. They would confess sins to God and they would even MOURN!
They mourned the fact that Jesus was killed on a Friday.
Then on Sunday when they gathered together as an EKKLESIA, or a CHURCH; the early Christians celebrated! They celebrated that JESUS HAD SAVED THEM!
Every Sunday was a celebration! Every Sunday was EASTER TO THEM! Every Sunday was a thing to celebrate!
And I don’t know about you, but I hope that’s how you feel every sunday if you know Jesus.
Wherever you are in your faith journey- whether you’ve walked with Jesus for a long time, or if you have never heard of Jesus, or if you are anywhere in between, I want to ENCOURAGE YOU to leave any preformed ideas at the door and to look at GOD’S WORD with me this morning as we CELEBRATE THE GREATEST NEWS OF ALL!
Before we read 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, let me just give us some quick context. In 1 Corinthians 10-14 Paul talks to the Corinthian Church- and to EVERYONE WHO READS THIS- about how Christians should live- he talks about how followers of Jesus should worship, how they should love people, about unity, and more, including one of Paul’s most famous statements about living as a Christian: 1 Corinthians 11:1
1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
And as Paul starts 1 Corinthians 15, he is going to explain WHY Christians should live differently, WHAT calls us to live differently, and HOW we can know that it is true.
1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
Main Point: The Gospel is the foundation of what it means to be a Christian.
Main Point: The Gospel is the foundation of what it means to be a Christian.
It shapes how we live, what we believe, it is true, and it is reliable.
As we look at this passage there are three questions that we are going to see answered. Here’s the three questions:
What is the message that Christians live by?
Why should Christians Live differently?
How do we know that this is true?
Body
Body
Paul is going to answer that first question in verses 1-2. Check out 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 with me.
1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Paul starts this chapter by saying that he wants to, “Make clear for you… the gospel I preached to you.”
Gospel is a “Christian” word. It’s not a word that we use all the time. But Gospel isn’t a fancy word. It litearlly means GOOD NEWS!
As an example of this, last Saturday when Illinois made the final four, if you didn’t watch the game and heard about it the next day, then you heard GOSPEL; or GOOD NEWS!
Here’s the difference- the GOSPEL that we are talking about isn’t just a short term good news. It’s THE BEST NEWS EVER!
Paul’s starting off this chapter by saying, “I want to be ABUNDANTLY CLEAR WHAT THE BEST NEWS EVER- THE NEWS THAT I PREACHED TO YOU (OR TOLD YOU ABOUT)- REALLY IS!”
There’s a reason for that. This GOSPEL is what the Corinthians- and really all Christians- have taken as their foundation.
This is where the Corinthians have “taken their stand.”
That’s an interesting statement- this idea that we’ve taken OUR STAND on this specific place.
It’s a word picture with a militaristic tone. It evokes an image of the last stand of an army- like the Last Stand of the 300, or of Custer’s Last Stand!
In these types of scenarios, an army “takes a stand” and RELIES ON SOMETHING!
Custer’s Last Stand (Western history is an awesome topic that you don’t think about much unless you’re a history education major in the west. Custer went too far and he disobeyed orders and found himself trapped. He needed to make a LAST STAND!)
In the same way, THE GOSPEL, THE GOOD NEWS THAT PUAL IS ABOUT TO EXPLAIN ABOUT HOW WE ARE SAVED, is THE single most importnat thing for a Christian!
It’s worth EVERYTHING FOR A CHRISTIAN! It’s what we RALLY to; it’s what we DEFEND; it’s what we LIVE BY!
It’s not just something that we take a stand on because we feel like it; it’s literally HOW WE ARE SAVED!
This message is WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD LIVE BY!
CHRISTIANS SHOULD LIVE BY THE GOSPEL!
That’s what Paul explains in verse 2.
We are saved- Paul will explain what that means in a minute- through the TRUTH THAT IS FOUND IN THE GOSPEL!
But before we talk about HOW WE ARE SAVED, Paul gives a disclaimer.
Paul says that the GOSPEL SAVES, “Unless you believed in vain.”
When we hear that we might think, “So is Paul not sure if this really works? Like what is going on? Can I actually RELY ON THIS??”
And that’s an understandable question, but that’s not what’s going on. Paul isn’t concerned about the legitimacy of the Gospel; he KNOWS this to be true. Instead, waht Paul is ACTUALLY DOING is bringing the Corinthians BACK to something that JESUS TALKED ABOUT!
In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a parable about a man who is sowing, or planting seed.
I won’t read all of it, but throughout the parable, the seed falls on different types of dirt with different results.
The one commonality? For many people they will HEAR the word of God, but they do not believe; they are FOLLOWING IN VAIN, because as SOON as difficulty comes, they will walk away!
They like the morality of Jesus, they like the accountability of Jesus, they like the comfort of Jesus, they like the community of Christians, they enjoy what THEY RECEIVE, but they don’t actually BELIEVE!
That’s the difference!
The Gospel isn’t just something that we hear and think, “That’s really cool! Thanks for telling me!”
It’s not something that you raise a hand to, or that you mentally say, “Sure.” It’s not something that you walk an aisle to receive, or repeat some words after someone else- if you grew up in a baptist church, you know what I’m talking about. The GOSPEL CHANGES EVERYTHING AND IT CALLS FOR OUR GENUINE FAITH!
JESUS CALLS FOR US TO PUT OUR FAITH IN HIM! TO BELIEVE IN OUR HEARTS AND TO CONFESS WITH OUR MOUTHS!
That’s real faith! It’s not about blindly saying, “yes” it’s about GENUINE FAITH!
And what does GENUINE FAITH NEED TO BE IN? WHAT SHOULD BE BELIEVED?
Well, that’s what Paul is going to explain in verses 3-4.
3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Here’s WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD LIVE DIFFERENTLY!
This is the MEAT OF PAUL’S GOSPEL MESSAGE!
There are five things that Paul mentions in these two verses that I want to highlight today:
Paul passed the message on (He didn’t invent this message- this is TRUTH, not a fancy creation of one man)
This is he same message that Paul Received (believed)
Paul isn’t just selling you something; this is what has changed Paul’s life! At one point in his life- we see this in Acts 7-8, Paul was ACTIVELY KILLING CHRISTIANS!
But then something happened; Paul BELIEVED!
He RECEIVED this message and it CHANGED HIS LIFE!
Rather than killing Christians, he went around the known world PREACHING THIS MESSAGE DESPITE LOTS OF RESISTANCE AND MANY ATTEMPTS TO KILL HIM!
One of my favorite examples of this comes in Acts 14. Paul is preachin the Gospel and a group of people become angry with him. They STONE HIM- which was a way to kill someone, drag him out of the city and leave him for dead. But he isn’t dead. He gets back up, he walks back into the city, meets with other Christians, leaves for a short time and then not too much later COMES BACK TO THIS SAME TOWN AND PREACHES THE GOSPEL MORE! None of that happened because Paul is so amazing. It’s all because of WHAT GOD DID IN HIS LIFE!
Here’s the third thing that Paul says- “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
Jesus died- quite literally- on the cross.
Short Gospel
Brokenness
What is sin? - archery term
This brokenness happens BECAUSE of sin!
But there’s HOPE!
SALVATION:
JESUS DIED FOR US!
And let’s look at what comes next.
The fourth thing that Paul says is that JESUS WAS BURIED.
We might be tempted to skip over this. Like, “Well yeah, he died so of course they buried him.”
But don’t skip this! See, if he didn’t die, he wouldn’t have been buried. He would have been taken to a HOSPITAL- which yes, there were some things like hospitals in the Roman Empire.
But he’s not. Instead, he’s buried. Matthew 27:57-61
57 When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released. 59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, 60 and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb.
Joseph of Arimathea gives up his tomb for Jesus to be buried in.
And in fact, the tomb is sealed as we read in Matthew 27:66
66 They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.
But the sealed tomb isn’t the end!
Here’s the fifth thing that Paul says. JESUs WAS RAISED ON THE THIRD DAY!
And understand, this isn’t just Paul’s opinion- for the second time in this short section he refers to the SCRIPTUREs, or to the Bible, as further backup of what went on!
The resurrection is what is so different about Jesus!
Jesus didn’t just live. He didn’t just die. Jesus death was DIFFERENT! He wasn’t CONSTRAINED BY DEATH! Instead, JESUS DEFEATED DEATH!
And by DEFEATING DEATH, JESUS SEALED OUR SALVATION!
We could say it like this- Jesus broke the SEAL OF THE TOMB and instead SEALED OUR SALVATION!
FINISH GOSPEL AND CALL FOR A RESPONSE!
That’s the why! Christians are called to live differently BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS DID! JESUS TRANSFORMED THE WORLD!
Look at this third question with me- “How do we know this is true?”
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
How do we know that everything Paul’s just laid out is true? Well, it starts with the EYEWITNESSES OF THIS EVENT!
Understand- being a Christian isn’t about having BLIND FAITH AND JUST HOPING THAT THIS WORKS OUT! INSTEAD, WE CAN CONFIDENTLY HAVE FAITH BECAUSE WE SEE the PROOF OF THE GOSPEL!
Paul lays out 6 different groups of eyewitnesses in these 3 verses.
Peter
The twelve disciples
500 followers of Jesus AT ONE TIME!
James- his brother who DID NOT BELIEVE!
21 When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, “He’s out of his mind.”
THAT FAMILY INCLUDES JAMES!
All the apostles- right before Jesus goes back to HEAVEN
PAUL!
This list is not a coincidence.
Paul writes this list so that we see the CONFIDENCE THAT WE CAN HAVE IN THE GOSPEL!
We can be CONFIDENT IN WHAT JESUS HAS DONE BECAUSE WE HAVE EYEWITNESSES WHO REINFORCE WHAT JESUS HAS DONE! THERE WERE EYEWITNESSES- HUNDREDS OF THEM- THAT HAD SEEN JESUS AFTER THE RESURRECTION!
Understand this- this GOSPEL isn’t just a story that Paul tells. THE GOSPEL IS THE GOOD NEWS FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD! IT IS THE BEST NEWS EVER, BECAUSE IT IS THE NEWS OF SALVATION!
Application
Application
Let me take a few minutes now to give us some practical takeaways that we can live out TODAY!
What is the message that Christians live by?
Why should Christians Live differently?
How do we know that this is true?
Embrace Our Future Hope
Embrace Our Future Hope
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, 12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?
Is your faith in Jesus, or is it in something else? I want to plead with you that THE ONLY WAY TO FIND A FIX FOR THIS BROKENNESS AND LOSTNESS THAT WE EXPERIENCE, for that WHOLE in your life, is JESUS!
NOTHING ELSE CAN FIX THAT!
Rejoice in our Future Hope
Rejoice in our Future Hope
53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place:
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
55 Where, death, is your victory?
Where, death, 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 dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
REJOICE! THIS IS THE FUTURE IF YOU KNOW JESUS!
WHERE DEATH IS YOUR VICTORY? NOT HERE!
WHERE DEATH IS YOUR STING? NOT HERE!
Why? BECAUSE JESUS HAS DEFEATED SIN AND DEATH!
We will spend ETERNITY IN HEAVEN UNITED WITH JESUS FACE TO FACE! AND THAT IS A REASON TO REJOICE!
Practically- let this change your outlook!
CAST ASIDE THE WEARINESS OF THE WORLD AND THE WORRY OF THE WORLD! REJOICE! GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU!
Share Our Future Hope
Share Our Future Hope
We can’t keep a message this good to ourselves!
This is one of the first things that Paul really says if you think about it! He starts off saying 1 Corinthians 15:1
1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand
HE PREACHED THIS MESSAGE TO THE CORINTHIANS!
He declared it; he SHARED IT!
And if you’re here this morning I want to challenge us with that same idea.
It’s good to rejoice, it’s good to celebrate, it’s good to enjoy easter!
But don’t miss this reality that our world NEEDS TO HEAR THE MESSAGE OF EASTER!
Our world NEEDS TO HEAR ABOUT THEIR NEED FOR SALVATION! This isn’t just a today thing, this is a challenge for us to follow-through on EVERY SINGLE DAY!
So let me ask you- whether you’ve come to Cornerstone many times, or if this is your first time; who’s one person- just one- that you can share this with this week?
I’m going to challenge you- if you’re taking notes, or if you’ve got a bulletin to WRITE DOWN THAT PERSON’S NAME! We want to FOLLOW THROUGH ON THIS! We don’t just want to be people that talk a big game; we want to ACTIVELY LIVE OUT WHAT WE SAY!
WE WANT TO BRING THIS MESSAGE OF HOPE AND SALVATION TO THE WORLD EVERY SINGLE DAY!
So today, how can you EMBRACE, REJOICE IN, and SHARE THIS FUTURE HOPE?
Let me pray for us.
