874 1 Cor.15.1-11 The Essence of the Gospel
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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- Herbert Fingarette once argued that there was no reason to fear death. At 97, his own mortality began to haunt him.
- Show VIDEO
- “[Death is] the one thing central to my existence that I have tried to come to terms with & have failed…”
- “[I] just go on existing & waiting - that’s the truth of it – waiting till I have to say goodbye”
- How sad & according to this passage today, so unnecessary
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- I want to preface my remarks today with some comments on the covid crisis
- My remarks are mine alone & is not an official position of our church
- Each Elder may think differently about what I am about to say
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- I believe that now after 5 mths of lock-downs that Christians are starting to feel the impact of not meeting together – life on life as a community of God’s people – in fact that is what church means
- This Covid issue, contrary to what some people think, is not merely a medical issue – it is a spiritual issue, a social issue, a moral issue
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- I have been trying to keep people informed about the Covid issue & have been getting some adverse reactions
- This, I repeat, is a spiritual issue – people have been afraid – I have taken calls from people who are afraid & concerned about family whose lives have been turned upside down because of the lock downs
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- There is an astonishing amount of inordinate fear generated about the covid crisis and people have asked me my opinion & as their pastor I going to give it
- You are my church family & I want to make sure that you are informed about what is going on so you can make informed choices for your family & for you to be able to guide your family through this situation
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- Again, I repeat, this is a spiritual issue
- There are churches that I deeply respect that are defying government lock downs (in US) – whether you agree with them or not, it takes a mature Christian to carefully consider their reasonings & why they are taking such drastic measures
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- But instead of people thinking these issues through & respecting that other people may have a different position to the mainstream narrative, they accuse you of being cold-hearted
- Yet, the Australian Christian Lobby, who represents the mainstream churches are actively advising the mainstream church as they realise that this issue is not just medical, but ideological, political & spiritual
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- Just this week I posted on Facebook the ideas of a professor of the Harvard Medical school – who is not alone, by the way, in these ideas
- It was a suggestion as to how to chart a balanced approach through the damage done by Covid and the damage done by lock-downs
- It was implied by a couple of Christians in that post that I wrote, that I was lacking in compassion
- I had one person say to me that “I wouldn’t be saying what I said if my mother had Covid” – he either poorly read what I wrote, or didn’t even bother to fully read it at all
- In fact, the specifics of that article, which I sent out to you in this week’s newsletter, & what I posted on Facebook addressed the very nature of how we must protect the elderly & most vulnerable
- The ideological nature of this issue is apparent when people sound off & not represent what was actually written
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- Do you know that I was brought up in the industry of private enterprise
- I know how hard these guys worked & the long hours they put in
- A number of you may not be aware, but these lock downs have totally taken everything away from many people – they have lost much or all of what they have worked for over decades – their lives decimated
- Our premier is prepared to implement another possible 12 mths of this – This week, I’ve written on this, to all the members of the Legislative Council in Victoria
- The ABC headlines this Thursday reported: “COVID-19 sees a third of businesses in financial trouble...”
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- People have not been able to visit loved ones; some people have not been free to get the medical treatment they need; not been able to grieve with family in the death of a loved one – even to attend the funeral
PRIME MINISTER Scott Morrison
- The death of that girl he was speaking about was one of an unborn twin that died as a result of the Qld NSW border lock-down
- People will go on about what the couple should or shouldn’t have done, but the fact remains the child died because the Qld premier imposed a hard lock-down of the border
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- The prime minister announced recently a couple of hundred million dollars to help people who are having social & mental issues
- Family breakdown, family violence & drug overdoses are on the rise due to these lock-downs
- The projection of suicides are high & collaborated by what is already happening overseas
- Ian Hickie, co-director of the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney, said with the social dislocation and economic fallout from Victoria's second wave, he is still expecting to see a spike in suicides.
"We still think we're going to see, over the course of a 12-month period… and then subsequent years, in the order of 30 per cent increase [in] suicide rates," he said.1 (ABC 27/08/20)
- There were 718 suicides in Australia last year – add 30% - +215
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- These are deep spiritual & moral issues & people need to be made aware that there are other solutions to this problem other than the mainstream approach
- The information I have been sharing with you is not made up by quacks but people from respectable institutions & authorities
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- Let me share another piece of disturbing information
- To prove to you that politics is involved here just take for example the drug Hydroxychloroquine which is said by a growing number of experts to be able to help save lives of those who have Covid
- But get this – in my research I have clearly noticed that the lefty websites all denounce it (ABC, CNN, MSNBC, The Guardian, Politico) while the conservative (right) websites (Sky News, Fox, Australian) are open to it
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- That is curious is it not – if the science is settled, why does the acceptance or rejection of this treatment divide along the lines of whether you lean to the left or right, politically?
- The Project is well known for its leftist leaning, let it slip by bemoaning the fact that if HCQ proves to work, “Donald Trump will have the last laugh”
- That is because Donald Trump was an early endorser of this treatment against Covid
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- This is a joke, isn’t it – if people really cared about the elderly dying, why on earth would they not get off their high horse & investigate whether this treatment could be a possibility?
- You need to watch this space, because there is a lot more to come from this
- In fact, recently Professor of epidemiology at Yale School of public-health, Dr. Harvey Risch has said...
As of now there are 12 studies that show that Hydroxychloroquine plus zinc and other companion medications when used early in high risk outpatients conveys significant and substantial benefit of reducing the risk of hospitalisation and mortality – Dr. Harvey Risch
- Unbelievable – this is saying that it may have been the case that our death toll in Australia could have been significantly decreased
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- Finally, the pressure may be having its effect – there are now trials happening in Melbourne to “safely assess whether the drug HCQ can protect Australian Health care professionals from Covid 19”2
- Researchers at the “Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical research are recruiting 600 hospital workers to take the drug daily
- Why has it taken so long for Australian authorities to respond to these calls? Is it ideological, is it pride? People’s lives are at stake!
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- Jesus said, reaffirming the OT command, to “love your neighbour as yourself”
- People suffering as a consequence of these lock-downs are also our neighbours!
- There is a huge cost here whatever way we attack the covid issue, but if you have to tell people they are lacking compassion then that in itself shows that something is not right
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- This is a Christian issue, a moral issue, a spiritual issue – people’s lives are being decimated
- You as my church family need to have the information & to be secure in what you believe & in what you understand – because to you there is a cost being demanded – you’re being asked to pay a price & so are we as a church community
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At the least, you need to understand all sides – for you to help your family deal with the spiritual, emotional, social & physical side of this issue
- But above all, in our approach, we are to exercise love – we stop accusing Christians of wrong motives or lacking compassion because you happen to disagree with their way forward - open it up - yes! discuss it - yes! (and be prepared to think outside the box)
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- Fear is alleviated by being informed & by being able to gain an overall perspective on this issue
- People may not like me taking them out of their comfort zone, but as your pastor I want the best for you & your family
- I hope that you will grow strong through these challenging times
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- This passage today shines a spotlight right on our reactions to the Covid crisis – the way we treat each other - & the way we understand the times
- Here’s an uncomfortable FACT for today – we are all going to pass away
- Assuming that our Lord may still allow the world to go on for another 100 yrs, then there’s a pretty good chance that we won’t escape the inevitable
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Q. But as Christians, how much of the fact that we have already died do we understand?
- Jesus said that to be His disciple you have to take up your cross & follow Him – the cross is an instrument of death
- As Christians, we belong in the age to come – our citizenship is in heaven
- We should realise that God has gifted us this life – indeed – but that this life of ours is now found in Him – can you accept that
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Q. Is this true of you? Is this true of me?
- When we bundle up so much of ourselves in the world – in its ways & in its thoughts – we forget that our heavenly Father has a real issue with the world
- That His wrath stands against the immoral & idolatrous nature of the men & women of the world
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- Romans 1 & we are seeing governments all around us baptising & adopting those things that God stands against
States and counties across the nation have classified places like casinos, abortion clinics, liquor stores, and massage parlors as essential businesses, permitting them to remain open — while churches are commonly categorized as “nonessential” and kept closed. The governor of California and county officials in Los Angeles have shown a determination to keep our church closed, even while encouraging massive political protests by angry people in the streets. - John MacArthur3
- I don’t hide from the fact that we are in the world but desperately trying not to be of the world
- Sometimes that tension is a very difficult tension indeed
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- But as we come to this passage today, we are reminded of the church’s great foundation; the church’s epic faith statement – and the church’s all important content of the Gospel
1. The Importance of Holding to the Gospel
1. The Importance of Holding to the Gospel
- The Gospel is what Paul wants to remind the Corinthians of
- This Gospel that they have deemed as culturally an abomination, they have been quietly distancing themselves from the message of Christ crucified
- God the Son – defeated, weak & left to be crucified
- Where is God the Father – why has He abandoned His Son to a horde of hateful people?
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- The Gospel is not cool, nor does it make sense to the world
- God is powerful, conqueror – Like the superheroes splashed across movie scenes, who overcome with brute strength or power - isn’t this how God if He exist would work!
- These super heroes reduce & defeat their enemies by overpowering them & smashing them
- But the Gospel speaks nothing of this – in fact, the opposite
- The Gospel speaks of surrender, suffering, loss, struggle, defeat, death
- How can you associate the God of heaven & earth with a weak, pitiful, failure – so many thought that Jesus was simply a man who had delusions of grandeur but was nothing but a phoney Messiah
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- Here’s a revelation – God had designed it that way!!!
- For that very purpose to look foolish to the world
- The Gospel of Christ destroys the pride of man
- After all, if mankind is bent on idolatry, why would God want to win them over with their idolatry – by displays of crushing power
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Q. But how many will stand in the Gospel today?
Q. How many will stand in faith today?
- In encouraging His people to keep praying & to not lose heart, Jesus says...
8 “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
- The fact that He asks that question has a saddening ring to it
- Because as Paul says here, it’s in the Gospel you stand; in the Gospel, you are saved or delivered from the wrath of God’s judgement
- However, there is a proviso – “if you hold fast the word which I preached”
Q. What happens if that proviso is not met?
- In other words, what if you stop standing in the Gospel – stop embracing the Gospel
Paul says, all that you are doing or all you have done for the Lord will be in vain
- That means a waste of time
- To drop out of the faith is the most seriousness of all sins – it is the ultimate sin – the sin that leads to the second death
- To give up on Jesus & His saving grace is to commit the unpardonable sin which means that everything has been wasted
2. The Content of the Gospel
2. The Content of the Gospel
- You know that there have been thousands upon thousands of people who have been crucified
- Streets lined with crucifixes would go on for miles
Q. What makes Jesus’ crucifixion any different?
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Two essential things here
- Firstly, the interpretation of His death – what does it mean?
- Secondly, the reality of His resurrection
- Of course, the resurrection stands on its own, but the interpretation of His death cannot stand without the resurrection
- Simply put, if Jesus was not raised, then the only interpretation you can make of His death is that He was a common man who overstepped the politics of the day & got caught between the Jewish & Roman political class
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- But Jesus has been raised from the dead, so that means that the reason for His death needs to be understood
- God raised Jesus – so what did & does His death mean?
- This is the Gospel which we received, in which we stand & by which we are saved
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- Here Paul lays out the common accepted apostolic truth of the Gospel
- Paul received this understanding of what Jesus’ death means from the apostolic witnesses to Jesus’ life and His death
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
- But also, the church has the witness of the Scriptures
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
- The Jews failed to understand these things & even those who had been with Jesus on the road to Emmaus were still lacking in understanding. To Jesus, who was walking with them, they said...
24 “Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
- The Christ, Jesus says, had to suffer these things & to enter into His glory
- Paul says here that Christ died for our sins
- That has an atonement ring to it, does it not
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- In the OT where the worshipper would want his sins forgiven, he would bring his sin offering to the Temple
- The animal (lamb or bull) would be slaughtered & its blood sprinkled on the altar & on the top of the ark of the Covenant – called the mercy seat
- The blood would be a cleansing for sins
- The shedding of blood was a common metaphor for death
- The sacrificial lamb or bull had to be slaughtered (it had to die)
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- John the Baptist called out when he saw Jesus – “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”
- Jesus became that “slaughtered lamb” that dealt with the sin of the worshipper (in fact, the sin of the world & is sufficient for every sinner)
- It doesn’t mean that it is applied to every sinner – that can only happen through faith
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
- So this was the predetermined plan of God – it was intentional; it was deliberate on the part of God
- The cross will be foolish; the cross will be effective because it is God who is behind the design of this way to deal with sins
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
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- But then we come to His glorious resurrection
- It is according to the Scriptures & He appeared to many people
- The OT Scriptures allude to His resurrection
- “You will not abandon me to the grave or see my body decay”
- That is Psalm 16 & Peter quoted from it on the Day of Pentecost
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- The Jews would say that that passage just refers to the fact that God would not let His king die, but come to the NT & God has revealed that it had deeper ramifications regarding God’s king
- That He, in fact, did die. But His body did not suffer decay because God raised Him from the dead
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19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
- Not only did Jesus appear to His disciples over a period of 40 days but He appeared to over 500 who were together at one time
- You may think that a couple of people or even three might suffer some delusion on any given day, but not 500
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- Josh McDowell, author of the two volume books, “Evidence that Demands a Verdict,” accepted a challenge as an unbeliever to disprove Christianity & like many others got converted in the process
- One of the major factors in his conversion to Christianity was his inability to ignore the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ
- A point he made later to a student at the University of Uruguay who asked him,
“Professor McDowell, why can’t you intellectually refute Christianity?” “For a very simple reason,” replied McDowell. “I am not able to explain away an event in history—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
- The resurrection is part of the Gospel message “in which you stand, by which you are saved”
- That must be believed for one to be a Christian
- You cannot be saved without accepting bodily resurrection of Jesus
3. The Messenger of the Gospel
3. The Messenger of the Gospel
- In describing himself as one abnormally born, Paul understands something of how wonderful is the Gospel
- You see the apostle Paul was not one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus
- In fact, he is someone who has a “past”
- Someone who hmmm really hasn’t deserved his stripes in his opinion
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- Now Paul did come a little late on the seen as to his appointment as an apostle
- He was busy touring the countryside hunting down & arresting/disposing of Christians
- He was an anti-Christ to the Church
3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
- But in God’s incredible way, when He touches people’s lives He transforms them through & through
- On the road to Damascus on one of Paul’s exciting countryside tours, he was confronted by Jesus & metaphorically put on his backside
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- All this time, he now realises, he has been working against God – what a shock to the system
- Imagine being raised in a home for twenty years, thinking that the ones who raised you were your biological parents but then you find out the truth that your biological parents are another couple
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- For Paul it was a shock like that for him
- His world had turned upside down & he now views everything differently
- Perhaps, this is part of the reason he gained such a good grasp of what grace is all about
- He himself experienced it richly & abundantly
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- But that is grace isn’t it
- God’s favour – His undeserved love & good will
- But have you noticed – I hope you did – that this grace was not just when he turned from sinner to saint
- The grace of God was active in his ministry & God’s grace drove him to achieve great things for God
- Paul laboured harder than all the other apostles – he says
- This not to boost, but to highlight the greatness of God’s grace
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- That grace at work in the apostle Paul is the same grace that is at work in you
- Grace cannot be earned & neither can the reconciliation that we have with God – only through Jesus’ death for our sins can we be kept in favour with God
- This Paul says, is the Essence of the Gospel
Questions for Breakout Group
1. When Jesus said that the great commandment is to Love God & then to love your neighbour as yourself, in this Covid crisis, WHO are our neighbours?
2. Considering the content of the Gospel what are the real important issues in life?
1https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-27/no-spike-in-suicide-rates-in-victoria-during-covid-19-lockdowns/12602060
2https://www.wehi.edu.au/news/search-covid-19-drugs-boosted-sars-discovery
3https://www.dailywire.com/news/macarthur-losing-our-religion