First Importance: Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:4b-11)

1 Corinthians 15:1–34 ESV

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is 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. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Intro: Well, this is a different kind of Easter… I asked Katy if I should wear a tie this morning… she said, “Well, this is 50% of your tie wearing for the whole year, so you probably shouldn’t skip it...”

What is the one piece life-transforming information you have received? Maybe share with us in the comments of the live chat… I’ll give you a few examples...

Maybe your life was changed forever when you found out that hitting the 57 on the glass Heinz ketchup bottle you get at a restaurant makes the ketchup flow out freely.

Or maybe it was learning that the little hole on a soda can tab is meant to hold a straw in place.

How about this one, did you know the hole in a pasta spoon is designed to measure one portion of pasta.

So I wore a tie. Maybe you dressed up this morning just to make it feel like Easter… I’m imagining that most of you are still in your pajamas...

OK… maybe we are feeling the weight of this piece of information a little more: how to actually wash our hands the RIGHT way.

I’ve seen some really good videos out there on that subject recently that make me wonder how I ever stayed alive the way I washed my hands before.

Obviously, these pieces of information are helpful… and they even make our lives easier, but we all know that they fall short of being truly “life-changing.”

But either way is fine, because dressing up isn’t what’s important on Easter...

The truth is, there are very few messages that really rise to the level of life-changing importance.

Maybe there are other things you are missing about Easter traditions… sitting in your home in your pajamas “just doesn’t feel like Easter.”

There are SOME messages that may change your life more than others...

Maybe you are missing going to church and telling someone, “HE IS RISEN”… only to hear them respond, “He is risen indeed.”

You have been accepted into the university of your choice.

Maybe you miss the energy in the worship center that is always a little more amped on Easter Sunday.

You are going to be a parent.

Go out on your front porch and yell out “He is Risen” today… maybe someone will respond...

Finding out you have cancer.

Or call someone and tell them… or even right now text someone...

Hearing the news that a close friend passed away.

Maybe you are missing the tradition of being with your family and having a big Easter meal...

And now people are missing fro your celebration...

Those things will change you for the rest of your life…

Maybe there are certain foods you couldn’t find at the grocery store this year that you really wanted.

Perhaps there are traditions that you WERE able to do… that you couldn’t miss...

But I would suggest to you that there is one piece of information that rises above even those messages as THE message of first importance… because it will change your life both now AND in eternity:

Painting eggs or an egg hunt...

Watching Charleton Heston’s “The Ten Commandments”...

I don’t know what it is that you do that makes it feel like Easter...

None of those things are wrong to have… But the truth is that there is only ONE thing that we NEED for an Easter celebration… and that is a Resurrected Savior.

What if some of the things we are mourning the loss of are revealing certain idols in our lives?

I’ve been wondering if this time of social distancing… and of not having all the trappings of Easter… is an opportunity and a gift from God to return us to the matter of first importance...

He died on a cross so that your sin could be forgiven and you could be reconciled to God… he was buried… and then…

on the third day after he was crucified, women went to a tomb and found the tomb empty… he had RISEN!!!

You see, if this Jesus claimed to be God, died, and didn’t rise again, that would not be anything life-changing… just another liar or a lunatic...

The simple truth that never changes… that Christ died for our sins… was buried… and on the third day rose again...

What if some of the things we are mourning the loss of are revealing certain idols in our lives?

But if he actually rose again, that changes your life DRASTICALLY… it changes it forever… because it means means that he is LORD over life and death...

What if you saw all the extra time in your house and all the extra time with your immediate family as an opportunity to reevaluate and re-prioritize what you value and what you spend your time on, so that what GOD says is the matter of first importance...

What if, when this whole thing is all over… you returned, not to the way things were (not back to “normal”)… but to a new normal… a new normal that is gripped by the work that GOD has already done… and the work that God wants to do IN you and THROUGH you.

Big Idea: Prioritize the resurrected Savior who will change your life now and forever.

On this Easter that is so different than any we have experienced before, take time to Prioritize the resurrected Savior who will change your life now and forever.

Your Bibles are open to …

And the book of 1 Corinthians is really a letter… written by a leader named Paul… to the church in Corinth, Greece… PLEADING to do JUST what we are talking about today...

Paul had started this church by proclaiming the good news about Jesus, gathering those who believed together as a church, and teaching them what it looked like to follow Jesus… and he did that for about a year and a half.

But then he left to start more churches… and since that time, things had started to unravel… people in the church were fighting with each other, people were living immoral lifestyles… they were dealing with pride and wrong motives…

And it all came back to this: they had gotten their eyes off the gospel of Jesus Christ… they had allowed other things to take the place of first importance.

They had followed false teachers and left the foundation of the good news that Jesus had DIED for them… was buried… and ROSE AGAIN for them...

And their wandering from this truth of first importance was the reason why their church... and their lives... were such a mess.

Listen… if we don’t keep coming back to this truth as a matter of first importance, other things will naturally take its place.

This is why “Proclaim Jesus” is the first thing in our new proposed mission statement as a church… because JESUS IS the matter of first importance.

So Paul writes in chapter 15 to REMIND them of this gospel he had preached to them...

It was the gospel they received in the past… the gospel they stood upon in the present… the gospel by which they were being saved for a glorious future.

But this gospel was only good news if they held fast to it… if they didn’t swerve away from it and put their faith in some other false teaching.

The gospel is good news for those who continually LIVE by faith in the power that Christ demonstrated in dying and rising again.

And so he writes in v. 3 [Read ]

In our Good Friday Service on Friday night, we focused on chapter 15, verse 1 through the beginning of verse 4...

Today we will look at verses 4-11 to see

But for now we will just look at verses 4-11 as we begin to Prioritize the resurrected Savior who will change your life now and forever.

Today we will see:

Three Reasons to Prioritize the Resurrected Savior:

1. He is the plan of God. (v. 4)

The resurrection was not some afterthought to God… it was not some response to Satan’s move against Christ in the cross as if we are all pawns in some cosmic Chess game with equally matched players...

The cross AND resurrection were God’s plan of ultimate victory from the very beginning.

Look at verse 4: “that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (, ESV)

Explain: In Accordance with the scriptures… The scriptures are the very words of God himself… they are God revealing himself… and his plan of redemption… to his people… for the past 3500 years.

And God had been promising to have final victory over Satan, sin, and death from the very beginning.

His first promise came right after man and woman fell into sin… he was cursing the serpent who tempted them and said:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” (, ESV)

The offspring would be temporarily wounded, but the serpent… Satan… the ancient deceiver… would be mortally wounded.

That was the plan from the very beginning.

And as the story went on, God unfolded his plan of redemption that would come through his people Israel… whom he led from death to life through the waters of the Red Sea...

His plan would come through the line of his chosen King of Israel… there would come a King in the line of David who would die, but then rise again.... David wrote of that King the Psalms, 1000 years before the first Resurrection Sunday...

“For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” (, ESV)

Isaiah wrote of this coming King 700 years before Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday… only he describes him as a suffering servant, saying:

“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; WHEN his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall PROLONG his days; the will of the Lord shall PROSPER in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and MAKES INTERCESSION for the transgressors.” (, ESV)

That’s the gospel written 700 years before it ever happened...

It was the WILL… the PLAN... of the Lord to crush him… Jesus… the Servant King…

he would bear the sin of many by OFFERING himself as a sacrifice in their place…

but then AFTER the offering was made… it was God’s plan to prolong his days again… that he would see and be satisfied… that he would make many to be accounted righteous and ever live to make intercession for them…

The one who that was written about was so clearly JESUS.

Jesus DIED… JESUS was RAISED ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.

THIS RESURRECTED SAVIOR IS THE REVEALED PLAN OF GOD for all of human history.

Which means he must take first importance in our lives.

The news we listen to is entirely dependent upon its source, isn’t it?

The news we listen to is entirely dependent upon its source, isn’t it?

You hear so much these days about FAKE news… everyone talks about FAKE news...

And usually people just write off any news that doesn’t agree with their perspective as “Fake news.”

But we need to learn the lost art of checking the source.

Does the source have credibility?

Does the source have an agenda?

Is that agenda a worthy agenda?

And what Paul is saying here is that we need to consider the source of this news… that Jesus was raised from the dead: The source was God himself.

And what Paul is saying here is that we need to consider the source of this news… that Jesus was raised from the dead.

The source was God himself.

He was promising since the beginning of the world to conquer our enemy and cover our sin.

And he sent his only Son into the world to do it.

Apply: Do you trust the scriptures (that is, do you trust the Bible)? Do you believe that they reveal the plan of God in Jesus Christ?

If so, then you need to give the resurrected Savior TOP priority in your thinking and in your living...

Because all of the scriptures… all of the plan of God… centers on THIS event.

You need to learn the scriptures… KNOW the scriptures… because they are pointing you to Jesus.

They are not just a manual for living… they are God’s living Word pointing you to a living Savior.

How do we prioritize the Resurrected Savior? Well, it most definitely must include SEEING him… daily… in the scriptures.

Now, I recognize that there may be some listening who are not convinced that the Bible is the word of God. If you do not believe the scriptures yet, I want you to consider for a moment, “What if this were true?”

What if there WAS a God who was perfect and created everything… wouldn’t he be THE ONLY credible source to go to in order to understand why the world exists?

And IF he was perfect and created everything, and his creation rebelled against him, so terribly that he placed all of creation under a curse… would he have ANY reason to enter into that creation to save it?

Would he have ANY reason to take on the punishment for the wrongdoing of his creation... when he had done nothing wrong?

If he DID enter into that creation and save it, would that be an act that he did for your GOOD or for your harm?

And if he DID enter into that creation to save it, would he go to all that trouble only so that you could keep living in your sin like he never did anything? Or so that you could have the power to be changed forever?

What if this were true… this whole “good news” about Jesus being the Savior and Lord of all the earth… this message that he died on a cross for your sins, was buried and rose again on third day...

But you say, “That would require FAITH in the scriptures. And we’ve already that I’m not sure I believe the scriptures... And it would require faith not only to believe them, but then to LIVE like they are true!”

Exactly. It does require faith… but it is not a blind or unreasonable faith… it is a faith based upon the eternal plan of God that he has written upon your heart.

But it is not a blind faith… it is a faith based upon the eternal plan of God that he has written upon your heart.

I loved what John Piper wrote in his new book that came out this week called Coronavirus and Christ… he wrote,

How do you know that the Bible is the word of God? My short answer is that there is a divine glory that shines through it, which fits perfectly with the God-shaped template in your heart—like sprocket and gear, hand and glove, fish and water, wings and air, the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

He goes on to say...

“The biblical view of faith is not a leap in the dark. It is warranted and well-grounded. It’s called faith not because it has no foundation. It’s called faith because it involves trust. Jesus didn’t call the believers blind; he called the unbelievers blind (). “Seeing they do not see” (). Saving faith in God’s word is based on “seeing.” Real seeing.” - John Piper, Coronavirus and Christ, pg 23-24

So let me ask you… Does it resonate in your heart that there is more to this world than living for 70 or 80 or 90 years and returning to the dust forever?

Do you sense, deep down, that there must be some sort of resurrection… and that the only one who could know what that resurrection is is the one who created all things and is not bound by being born and dying?

Do you feel the brokenness of the world that the Bible describes and explains so clearly... and do you see that you in your sin have contributed to the problem?

Do you see your need for a Savior?

If those things resonate in your heart, then I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in your heart and he is calling you to turn from your sin… turn from trusting everything but God… and he is calling you to put your faith in Jesus Christ...

That he is the only one who could pay for your sin and restore you to relationship with God… that he is the only Savior and Lord worthy of prioritizing your life around.

The scriptures reveal Jesus as the centerpiece of all of God’s plan.

He is the one through whom all things were created… he is the one FOR whom all things were created… even you.

Even your time. Even your job. Even your family. Even your unique skills and abilities… it is ALL for HIM… and he wants to redeem it all for his Glory…

He is Savior and Lord over all… he is Savior and Lord over all in your life.

Prioritize the resurrected Savior because he is the plan of God.

That truth will change the way you think about every breath you breathe.

It will change the way you think about every breath you breathe.

It will change the plans you make and the desires you entertain.

It will change what you hope for and dream for… because you will learn to hope for him.

When you realize that Jesus is the plan of God for the whole world… and for your life, he will become your story.

Which leads us to this second point… We need to prioritize the resurrected Savior because...

Secondly, Prioritize the resurrected Savior because...

2. He is the testimony of the transformed. (v. 5-7)

If you are still having a hard time believing the scriptures… maybe this will convince you… 2000 years ago, over 500 people saw a guy who was VERIFIED dead… by an expert Roman executioner who had nothing to gain and everything to lose if he was wrong...

Over 500 people saw that dead man living and breathing and talking and eating again… And they didn’t just see him, their lives were forever changed by him.

In the moments of his trial and crucifixion, they had abandoned him because they were afraid of being put to death alongside him...

But NOW they were so sure of what they had seen, that they themselves were willing to stand by their testimony even to death.

Look at verse 5… “...he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” (, ESV)

Paul is saying that the resurrection of Jesus is a matter of first importance because so many people saw him alive in the days after his resurrection.

He appeared to Cephas… that’s his Aramaic name… we know him better as Peter… the one who denied Jesus THREE times on the night of his trial...

He appeared then to the twelve… the disciples closest to Jesus… (it’s a reference to their total number, even though at the first appearance Thomas wasn’t there, nor was Judas of course)… Paul is just referencing the group as a whole…

they had all run away when Jesus was betrayed… none of them came to his defense...

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time… this is probably the appearance in Galilee described in ...

These were disciples who had heard Jesus’ teaching when he walked among them throughout Israel… but they had not yet seen the power of the resurrection...

And now they did.

And then he appeared to James (that’s most likely Jesus’ half-brother)… James and the rest of his siblings thought Jesus was out of his mind for claiming to be the Messiah when he came to teach in their town a few years earlier...

and then Jesus appeared to all the Apostles… that’s probably referring to the 11 disciples again, this time at the ascension...

And Paul says, “Most of them are still alive…”

In other words, he’s like, “do you really want to know if Jesus was raised from the dead… go ask the people who saw him… at the time of this writing, they are still alive!”

They were eyewitnesses to this miracle. Miracles don’t have an explanation, but they do need to have evidence. You have to be able to verify that a miracle occurred.

Personally, I experienced a miracle this week...

I was in a terrible car accident… and to look at me, you may not believe that… there isn’t a scratch on me… my bones are all in tact… I barely have a bruise...

But if you saw the car, you would understand what I mean that it was a miracle.

Here’s a picture of the scene of the accident… the upside down car is mine.

And in just a few short minutes, I had crawled out the back door and was sitting on the grass beside the other driver who hit me...

And maybe you would say, “Well, that’s not a miracle… that’s just good engineering. Good sturdy steel and airbags...”

But here’s how I know that it was a miracle… because not only was I spared, but my heart was 100% free from fear or worry or anxiety...

The peace of Christ rushed over me from the moment I was hit to this moment I’m talking to you right now, trusting his absolute care and protection and provision...

That is NOT my natural response to things…

It wasn’t just the event… it was the spiritual effect the event had upon me...

Like I said before, these people did not just SEE Jesus… their lives were CHANGED by what they saw...

You don’t leave everything that you have to follow a teacher… watch him die… see where he is buried… and then see him talking to you face to face… and not be changed.

I was so struck this week in our readings in Matthew that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James spent time SITTING in front of the tomb on Friday evening as the stone was rolled into place.

They were the last people to see his body laid in a tomb were also the first to see that the tomb was empty.

On Friday night, I just wonder, how long did they sit there? What were they thinking as they sat? What kind of finality was sinking into their heart?

And then on Sunday they find the tomb empty: Can you imagine the shock and disbelief in THAT moment…

Can you imagine the shock and disbelief in THAT moment…

And then to actually get to SEE him…

You don’t see him appear in a locked room…

You don’t place your hands on his wounds and look deep into his eyes…

you don’t eat food with him in his resurrected body, even after he entered a locked room… you don’t have that happen and NOT have it change you.

You don’t eat food with him in his resurrected body…

you don’t experience those things and NOT have it change you.

These people went from fearful to fearless.

They went from preserving themselves from death to looking death in the eyes.

They left homes and families and livelihoods… all because of what they had seen.

Jesus WAS their testimony. Their faith in what they had seen became the defining priority of their lives.

Their lives were all about HIS life.

They had NO LIFE apart from him.

Apply: Is Jesus the testimony of your life? Is he the only explanation for how you make the choices that you do?

And I guarantee that if a cure was found, they would tell everyone about it...

And I guarantee that if a cure was found, they devote the bulk of t

Is he the only explanation for the way you spend your time?

Well Jesus is the cure to the most common disease in the world that affects 100% of people…

Or to test it another way, “What would be different in your life if the resurrection were NOT true?”

Would you view your time any differently?

Your treasures?

Would you use your skills and abilities in any different way?

And only a few people know about it.

Would you relate to others differently if Jesus had not rescued you from your sin and given you hope for all eternity?

How would it affect your emotions? Your happiness, your anxieties, your peace?

Does his finished work in saving you from your sin change how you relate to your family and friends and neighbors?

If the answer to those questions is, “No, nothing would be different,” or “Very little would be different,” I would suggest that you need to consider what it means for the resurrection of Jesus to be a matter of FIRST importance.

That was the problem in the Corinthian church...

They still valued all the same things that unbelievers valued… they were not spiritually minded...

And the reason was that the message of the gospel was not taking first importance in their lives...

In verse 12, Paul even suggests that some of them were denying the resurrection outright!

But for genuine believers, their lives are forever changed.

HE becomes the only explanation for their lives.

Because we have experienced his LOVE, we can love others...

Because he has redeemed us from living under the law, we can live in the freedom of grace… freedom from the power and bondage of sin...

Because we know we too will one day rise again with HIM, we do not have to fear death.

Because we know we too will one day rise again with HIM, we do not have to fear death.

We can walk fearlessly in the face of disease or persecution or any other thing that would threaten us because Jesus has conquered the ultimate enemy of our souls.

And we must walk in the knowledge that he is the Lord of life and death… he is the Lord over us...

Prioritizing the risen Savior changes your life both now and forever.

Because they knew that he was LORD over life and death and all creation… they would obey him to the uttermost...

And that change was never more drastic than in Paul himself… He writes a little bit of his own testimony in verse 8:

He writes in verse 8:

“Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” (, ESV)

We must prioritize the resurrected savior because...

3. He is grace to the unworthy. (v. 8-11)

Without Jesus we are unworthy sinners destined for hell. Without Jesus, everything we would prioritize is NOTHING. With Jesus, we discover he is all the worth we will ever need.

Explain: Paul himself had seen Jesus… but not before he had done great harm to Christ’s body, the church.

Paul himself had seen Jesus… but not before he had done great harm to Christ’s body, the church.

Here is a guy who had overseen the beating and murder of countless Christians simply because they claimed Jesus had risen from the dead… and that he was the Messiah… the Savior and Lord over all.

He HATED this claim of the resurrection…

And then it happened… he was on his way to go beat up some more Christians in Damascus, when Jesus himself appeared to him...

He said, “Saul, Saul” (that’s the other name Paul went by)… “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me.”

And Jesus struck him blind… and sent him on to Damascus to hear the good news from a man named Ananias...

And so Jesus struck him blind… and sent him on to Damascus to hear the good news from a man named Ananias...

Ananias told him the good news of Jesus and anointed his eyes and his sight was restored.

And that’s how PAUL came to SEE the risen Savior. That’s when he was born again.

Paul says, “It’s like I was born at the wrong time. If only I had seen him earlier, I could have been kept from doing so much harm!

But Paul also knows that Jesus knew exactly when he should appear to Paul. Paul needed to be a broken man so that he could experience grace.

And this changed Paul

Paul had every reason to believe that he WAS worthy. If you read along with our reading plan this week, you are going to read Paul’s resume in …

He was a Jew among Jews… but he had to be brought to nothing in order to experience the grace of the riches of Christ..

He wrote in ,

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ( ESV)

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (ESV)

The resurrected Savior is grace to the unworthy.

4. He is the driving hope of the faithful. (v. 12-19)

He changes our lives to realize that everything this world has to offer… status, achievement, approval… is NOTHING compared to his supreme worth.

And Paul says back in , that this grace was not in vain… he worked HARDER than any of the other apostles...

The more we see our unworthiness before the Lord, the more we experience his grace, and the more we respond in complete abandonment...

Now Paul is careful to say, “It’s ultimately not my work… it’s God’s work THROUGH me… but this grace drives me to PREACH… to proclaim to others the good news of Jesus… so that they might believe.”

Apply: Do you see your unworthiness before the Lord?

I’m sure there are people listening to this sermon who are on both sides of that question… those who see their unworthiness and those who don’t.

If you are sitting there thinking, “I don’t get why this resurrection thing is such a big deal…

I never think about the resurrection and I have a pretty good life…

I get along with people… I have a good job… I have a nice house… life is good...”

I’m praying right now that God breaks you of that as you hear this message.

Because all of that stuff will pass away… but the resurrected Savior lives forever…

You can’t stand before God and say, “You should accept me into your kingdom because I had a pretty good life.”

NO, JESUS is the one of all surpassing worth because he rose again and is exalted over all… THAT is what we need to see!

And you need to see your UNWORTHINESS before him to experience his grace!

Do you see your unworthiness before the Lord?

On the other side of that question, maybe you are thinking, “He could never forgive me of the things that I have done!” or… “He would never want someone like me in his kingdom. I’m just a nobody!”

I pray that you would see and believe the grace of the Lord toward you right now.

He died and rose again… so that unworthy sinners could be born again in him.

That’s what grace is. It’s Christ’s riches flowing toward those who KNOW they do not deserve it.

And if you have seen your unworthiness before and believed Christ’s grace toward you already, I pray that you would believe it afresh…

Because it is what will drive you to live for him… to Prioritize HIM and work harder than them all! So we preach, and so others believe.

I love the quote that I’ve heard Bruce Helland say often (I’m not sure where it originally came from)… It goes like this... “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody.”

That’s our attitude when we prioritize the resurrected Savior.

Without him, we are most unworthy. In him, all our worth is found. And our greatest desire is that he would receive more and more glory from our lives and from the people around us… because he is Savior and Lord over ALL.

Apply: Is the grace of Jesus the only source of your worthiness? Is he the all-surpassing worth you are pursuing?

And is he the all-surpassing worth you are pursuing?

They were living just like the rest of the world.

They were just as immoral… just as self-centered… just as focused on the things of this world...

And we come to find in verse 12 that this is because some were saying that there was no resurrection from the dead.

4. He is the driving hope of the faithful. (v. 12-19)

4. It is the driving hope of the faithful. (v. 12-19)

5. He is the foretaste of the Kingdom (v. 20-28)

Are you investing ALL of your life for the sake of him and his kingdom… proclaiming that HE is Savior and Lord with everything you have, and in everything that you do?

5. He is the foretaste of the Kingdom (v. 20-28)

Over the next few weeks, we are going to be pursuing this more in depth...

6. He is the awakening of the Church. (v. 29-34)

Would you view your time any differently?

Your treasures?

Would you use your skills and abilities in any different way?

We are going to start a new sermon series called “Good and Faithful: Stewardship as a Way of Life”

Would you relate to others differently if Jesus had not rescued you from your sin and given you hope for all eternity?

If the answer to those questions is, “No, nothing would be different,” I would suggest that you need to consider what it means for the resurrection of Jesus to be a matter of FIRST importance.

And we are going to see that EVERYTHING that we have… our time, talents, treasure, relationships… are given to us by God… for the sake of the Kingdom of his risen Son...

We are going to see how to use EVERYTHING God has given us for the sake of his kingdom.

And the reason that we would do that is because of this truth right here… this matter of FIRST importance… that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures… he was buried… and on the third day he rose again...

Will you live by faith in this news today?