1 Corinthians 15171220 2006
4/16/2006
Text: 1 Cor 15:1-7, 12-26
Have you ever noticed that when it gets close to Easter the news media seems to come up with stories that appear to create doubt about the basic tenants of the Christian faith? We have had the “major” announcement about the discovery of another gospel. This one is called the Gospel of Judas. This gospel “gives new insights into the relationship of Jesus and Judas, who betrayed him. In this gospel Judas is portrayed as a favorite disciple of Jesus and a willing participant to help set Jesus free from his earthly body. Judas simply helped Jesus to die in order to set him free. National Geographic went to great lengths to get this story out and had a special on this gospel.
The Gospel of Judas was known to the early Church. One of the earliest theologians of the church, a man named Irenaeus wrote about it around 180 AD. He accused a splinter group in his own time of writing the book. This group adopted the traitor Judas as their hero and rewrote the gospel story from their own skewed perspective.
Then there was a report in the Journal of Paleolimnology that suggests that Jesus was able to walk on the water because parts of it had iced over. Of course this does not explain Peter falling into the water after he began to experience fear and panic while standing on the water.
Dan Brown won his plagiarism case. So now we will see the movie based on his book the Da Vinci Code. Another study came out that said prayer doesn’t help you recover from illness, and it may actually make a person worse, while another study says churchgoing helps you live longer. Then there are two news items on the evolution front, both of which are being hailed as serious blows to those who reject Darwinism.
The last one was a poll taken by Scripps Howard and Ohio University which said that 54% of those polled said they do not believe that their physical bodies will be resurrected someday. Whether it is
The Da Vinci Code, the latest in the discovery of another “lost” gospel, the rejection of the idea of a physical resurrection, or the casting doubt on the effect of prayer what we see in all of this a reemergence of what is called gnostism. The Gnostics believed that their had gained a special kind of spiritual enlightenment, through which they had attained a secret or higher level of knowledge not accessible to the uninitiated. The Gnostics believed that our physical bodies (as well as the material realm) are evil and only our souls are pure. Because the body was evil Jesus could not really die on the Cross and that we shold focus only on the spiritual truths only.
This philosophy has been around thousands of years and it seems that around Christmas and Easter we get a new round of stories that try to present this religious/philosophical view as being a viable alternative to a corrupt Christianity.
Paul may very well have been dealing with a form of Gnosticism in the Corinthian church. In verse 12 we read, 12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Apparently some in the church either taught or believed that there was no resurrection of the dead. Paul points out that if there is no resurrection of the body then Christ could not have been raised and if Christ had not been raised everything that was preached and taught was a lie. And if it was a lie, then the apostles were lairs, Paul was a liar, their faith was useless, there were still lost in their sins, the dead were still dead and we have no hope.
The issue of the resurrection is central to our faith. If we buy into the beliefs of those who tell us that there are alternative gospels, or that Jesus did not die in the flesh, or that he was not raised from the dead then we have little reason to believe or practice the Christian faith.
If there is no resurrection then the gospel is a lie; our faith if useless. The gospel cannot be good news if it is a hoax and has no real power to change people’s lives or to do anything else except to deceive people. If there is no resurrection then those who proclaimed the message of the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles, the early church were liars. If there is no resurrection, humanity cannot be forgiven of its sins or redeemed from the grip of death. When we die we die and remain in the grave until our bodies decompose and last there is no hope for us in this world. This is a pretty grim picture if the basic foundational believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died and did not rise from the dead.
So is the resurrection true? For those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord the answer is no. For them Jesus was a good, moral man who taught us sound ethics. He was unjustly accused and put to death at an early age because people could not bear to hear the truth of his teachings. He challenged the religious community and he undermined their authority in the eyes of the people. He was a threat to the government because he could have brought instability and no government can allow instability to exist and threaten its rule.
Is the resurrection true? For those who believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, then the answer is Yes. He came so that the world may know of the love of God; that we may know forgiveness, cleansing and a reconciling with God. He broke the fear and power of sin and death and by his resurrection demonstrated the power of God to redeem a world that has lost its way.
In 1 Corinthians 1:18- 31 Paul wrote,
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I
will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Paul knew that people would see the message of the gospel as foolish. Only those whose hearts and minds were open and receptive to the working of the Spirit of God would believe the message of Jesus Christ. To many the good news of the resurrection is foolishness and many have tried to discount the belief by trying to disprove the resurrection or by writing alternative gospels. The belief comes down to faith.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s resounding yes to Christ and his atoning work. If the Cross was the end, the curse and judgment upon all flesh remains in place and we should not even be here wasting our time worshipping a lie. But the cross was not the end, for God raised Jesus from the dead. We now believe and proclaim a new beginning. The Son of God received his glory back (heavenly glory he had before he came to earth) and God accepted the atoning work of Christ for us.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s yes to us. In Romans 4:25 Paul wrote, He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Christ’s death was the death sentence over us and our sins. Those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ no longer face condemnation for our sins (Romans 8:1).We have been resurrected with Christ and God is at work making us new creations.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s yes to creation. By this I mean that God is making us new. God’s yes to the new creation in the midst of the old creation, God has not abandoned this world, but has reconquered it, has given it a new future, a new promise. God has promised to make this world new at the coming of Jesus Christ. (above three points taken from Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
I believe in the physical resurrection of Christ. I believe that God is at work calling people to himself in order to forgive them, to restore them, to remake them into what he desired from the beginning. I believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ demands faith, because we cannot scientifically prove it. We have facts, his tomb was empty, his body never found, he was seen by Mary and then was seen by the disciples in the upper room, he was seen by 500 people at various times before his ascension, but that is not enough for a skeptical world. I believe that those who say that Jesus Christ is alive and in them are called to live as a new people, a new creation of God and that by our lives we either affirm or deny to the world the truth of the resurrection of Christ. Do not get caught up in all of the hype surrounding the latest or newest discoveries. In truth they are not new but old and those who walked in this faith before us found them lacking in truth and power.
If we believe in the truth of the resurrection of Christ, then let us live as a resurrection people, being his presence, conforming our lives to the image of Christ and serving a lost world.