My Faith is no Fairytale

1 Corinthians 15: 3-7; 11-19; 30-32

1.        Warm Questions

2.        Prayer

3.        Sermon Review

A.      Faith’s Basics

Ø   PAUL SAYS:

§           Your faith is based on these facts, or it’s vain

§           Christ died for our sins and was buried

§           Christ was raised on the third day fulfilling the Scripture prophecies

§           He appeared to Peter, the Twelve and to more than five hundred others many of whom were alive at the time Paul wrote about 22 years later.

Ø   EXPLAIN GOSPEL from above.

Ø   Right from Pentecost, REZ is central.  This passage contains a creed developed 2-15 years after death.

B.      What’s So Important about the Resurrection

Ø   This is what everyone preaches, and the resurrection itself is the lynchpin. It grounds the argument in history, is the proof of Jesus’ identity, and is the reason we can hope for our eternal life.

Ø   If no one is raised, then Jesus wasn’t, and surely we won’t either.

Ø   If Jesus wasn’t raised, our faith is vain and the apostles are liars!

Ø   Without the resurrection, Jesus is no savior and all Christians are still stuck with their sin!

Ø   If Jesus wasn’t raised, our only comfort is in a worthless lie that ends with this life, and we are more pitiful than everyone else on earth.

Ø   I am a fool to die to self, even risking physical death or torture for a lie.  I would be wiser to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.

Ø   If Jesus was, then he is the guarantor of ours.

Ø   All defeats in life are battles, but the war can’t be lost.

C.      Proofs of the Resurrection

1.      The recorded eyewitness testimony.  They saw him, touched him, and talked with him.

2.      The centrality of historical nature of faith at its founding when those witnesses were around to debunk it

3.      Basics affirmed by even hostile witnesses.  X-Pilate, REZ, lg following Rome 31 years later.

4.      The lack of a better explanation

a)                Swoon:

(1)          Jesus is beaten to a pulp, crucified, stabbed with a spear, and doesn’t die, hmmm…, and even if beyond all reason he did not, how did he revive so thoroughly in three days that he could tell this lie convincingly enough to have them come out of hiding and confidently challenge the jewish & roman world views on the basis of Jesus being the Lord of life?

b)                Still in the tomb:

(1)          The earliest Jewish authorities and others all accept the tomb as empty.  Why not contest it, when the resurrection itself was?

(2)          But there were guards who could have informed the leaders who wanted to put this lie down, that it was indeed full.  And also, this provides no explanation for the remarkable change in disciples from hiding, to culture challengers.  Who did they see?

c)                Stolen by enemies:

(1)          If so, why did they accuse the Christians of this, and why not produce the body, or at least confess to having stolen it, when it was their intent to stomp out Christianity?  And how could Paul, who was part of the Jewish team at the time, convert if he was in on the lie?

d)                Stolen by followers:

(1)          While folks will die for something false that they believe to be true, almost no one will die for something they know to be false.  It is inconceivable that not 1 apostle recanted, yet records and traditions indicate that not one did.  Also, the physical resurrection is at the heart of the preaching, where surely it would have been deemphasized if it was a lie.

e)                Someone else stole the body:

(1)          slightly harder to debunk, but without any support, and gives no explanation for the changed behavior of apostles based on resurrection appearances.

f)                 I have a relationship with Him:

D.      Invite:

(1)Would you choose morphine or the cure?

(2)I am not asking you to say, I know it all and have no doubts, but rather, I know enough and I believe in Jesus and His REZ, & I want that resurrection life & power in my life.