Forgotten Resurrection

"The Forgotten Resurrection" – 1 Cor. 15

introduction

I almost forgot to tell you that memory is a wonderful thing. Scientists say that the human mind can store as many as 600 memories per second for a lifetime of 75 years without the slightest strain.  This maybe true, but my memory still fails me at times, and most definitely there are some things in life you should never forget. You should never forget the birthdays in your family, you shouldn’t forget anniversaries and doctor’s appointments and when your VISA card payment is due.

There was a news story back in 1990 about a 5-year-old Texan boy who was accidentally left behind by the family at a service station while on holidays. Tyler Payne got out of the family station wagon to use the rest room, then couldn't get out of the building because the door was stuck. In the meantime, his family jumped into the car and kept going on the trip home. About two hours later, and a long way up the road, his parents and the five other kids noticed that Tyler was missing. When the family was finally re-united, the boy hugged his mother and told her, "I'm never going to the bathroom again”.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul reminds the Corinthian church of one thing they must never forget – the gospel which has been passed onto them. If you have a look at verses 3 and 4 of 1 Corinthians 15, you’ll see that the gospel has three points. Firstly – verse 3 – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; secondly, in verse 4, that Christ was buried; and lastly, that he rose again on the third day.

This is the gospel which comes from God and that Paul handed down and which we should never forget.

The trouble is we do forget it. I don’t mean that we forget about the resurrection in the sense that it totally slips our mind, rather I mean that we often don’t absorb it as part of the good news from God because it all seems to hard. It’s easy on Good Friday to talk about someone dying, because death is something that we hear about everyday in the news most days, and from time to time we attend a funeral. But I’ve never been to a funeral where someone’s risen from the dead. I’d be the first one to fall over with shock if at the last funeral I conducted we were interrupted by the lid on the coffin shaking, and then the person hopping out and wondering why we were making such a fuss. The closest I’ve seen is Shelley Long in the movie, “Hello Again” – but that’s only Hollywood.

There is something about the resurrection that wants us to keep it at an arms length. Regretfully, John Shelby Spong seems to specialise in writing top selling books about the Bible. When commenting on the resurrection Spong would have us believe that, “the resurrection is not so much an event of history, as it is an experience of transcendence”. In other words, it’s a nonsense to believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. What the report of the resurrection does is, “help us affirm the life of God that is within us”. Don’t believe in the fact of the resurrection – just enjoy the religious experience.

the significance of the resurrection

the guarantee of sins forgiven (v.17)

But Paul says in verse 17 of 1 Corinthians that if there is no physical resurrection then there is no forgiveness of sins. Let me read verse 17 to you, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins”. The penalty for our rebellion against God is death. What is the evidence that sin has been dealt with? Life!

In raising Jesus from the dead God is saying that the penalty for sin has been paid and now there is a possibility of becoming debt free. The resurrection is the evidence that God’s anger at sin has been satisfied and that he is now in a position where he can forgive people. Christ’s resurrection is sure and final proof that God’s anger has been quenched and now he is prepared to offer new life.

BUT if Christ hasn’t been raised – if the report is merely the product of an overactive imagination of the early church – then, Paul says in verse 14, our faith is futile because our hope of forgiveness is an allusion. “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless (i.e. it’s a waste of time me speaking)  and so is your faith (you self-deluded lot might as well go home)”. If Christ died and stayed dead, then he cannot offer forgiveness and like the rest of us he also hopes for a time of salvation.

But the fact that Jesus rose from the dead means at last there is someone on the scene who has beaten sin and death and so doesn’t deserve to die. And the good news is that Jesus beat sin on our behalf, so that those who come to Jesus seeking forgiveness receive the gift of eternal life.

the hope of our resurrection (v.18-23)

This takes us into our next point. The resurrection not only confirms our forgiveness of sin, it also guarantees our future resurrection. We see this in verses 20-22, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive”.

Here Paul is saying that Christ’s resurrection is the first of many. Christ’s resurrection provides the hope that all those who trust in him will be made alive at a time in the future. For Christians, the resurrection is our great hope of things to come. But hope is really only hope when it is based on truth, not misinformation or rumour.

Imagine this scene on a four engine airliner.  The pilot's voice comes across the intercom:  "Those of you on the left side of the plane have probably noticed that one of our engines has failed.  Do not be alarmed.  We can still fly on three engines, but we will probably arrive about 15 minutes late."

A few minutes later the pilot's calm voice is heard again:  "Those of you on the right side of the plane are probably aware that a second engine has failed. Do not be alarmed. We can make it on two engines, though we will probably be at least 30 minutes late now." A few minutes later the pilot spoke to all the passengers:  "It has just come to my attention that a third engine has failed. Please do not be alarmed.  We can make it to the airport on one engine. However, we will arrive approximately 45 minutes late." Then one passenger turned to another and said, "Boy, I hope that fourth engine doesn't fail, or we could be up here all night!"

Hope without substance isn’t really hope at all. Paul’s hope for the future lies in the fact that Christ’s resurrection is a sure sign of the hope to come. Paul is saying that Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits of a resurrection harvest of all believers. The resurrection of Jesus provides the certain hope that when our sins are forgiven we will rise to a new and eternal life.

the effect of the resurrection (v.29-34)

The resurrection of Jesus: the guarantee of sins forgiven – the hope of our future resurrection. And now the third point is the resurrection must effect the way we live now. It most certainly did for Paul - reading from verse 30, “And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame”.

If the dead are not raised then the only logical philosophy in life is to, “eat and drink for tomorrow we die”. I know people who live that way. Paul is saying to the Corinthians that they are living selfishly and self indulgently as though there were no resurrection – and so they should sober up and get their act together because the resurrection is real and there is a tomorrow.

Our knowledge of the future effects the we live at the present time. Just consider life post-September, 11. The world now assumes that more terrorist attacks are a certainty, and so the world in which we live has changed. A friend of mine who flew in a plane recently said how he was sitting next to a person of Middle Eastern origin. And he said how he could not help feel suspicious about that person although there was absolutely no reason to feel that way. Our knowledge of the future effects the way we behave right now. Airport security has taken a new dimension. Military installations are far more careful. A friend living on the RAAF base said that friends can no longer drive to their house unescorted. Now they have to meet their friends at the gate and drive back with them because they pose a potential security risk.

Our knowledge of the future effects the we live at the present time. And Paul is saying that because our future resurrection is a certainty, then we must live as people who live for the Lord, seeking to obey and love him for he is our servant-king.

conclusion

Let me conclude by saying that if you deny the resurrection, or leave it out of your gospel, it will have a profound effect on the message itself and on how we live the Christian life. It’s easy to overlook the significance of the resurrection, but for Paul it’s packaged as first importance: Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and after three days he was raised. We have every reason to praise God for the future hope we have – a hope not bound to the uncertainty of this world, but a hope pinned on the restoration of all creation that has been achieved through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.