875 1 Cor.15.12-19 The Truth of Bodily Resurrection
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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A man, his wife and his mother-in-law went on vacation to the Holy Land. While they were there, his mother-in-law passed away.
The undertaker told them, "You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here in the Holy Land for $150."
The man thought about it and told him he would just have her shipped home.
The undertaker asked, 'Why on earth would you spend $5,000 to ship your mother-in-law home, when it would be wonderful to have her buried here, and spend only $150?'
The man replied, "a man died & was buried here 2,000 years ago, and three days later He rose from the dead - I just can't take that chance!"
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Q. How can resurrection be possible? How can a person be made whole after a body has died, decayed or is incinerated by cremation?
- It is beyond our comprehension that the natural laws of the universe could be suspended & even reversed to bring about a resurrected body
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- There are many people who, while believing in Christ, reject the thought that He literally arose from the dead
- We have been through the period called “The Enlightenment” or “The Age of Reason” & one of the main driving factors, in this time, was “naturalism”
- In other words, if you could not justify something by reason or by the scientific method, then it just ain’t so
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- Of course, that was a ridiculous notion because they failed to explain their own presuppositions, but it did produce many deviant children, like the theories of evolution and secular psychology
- Then you had the religious movement out, of this period, called Deism
- Deism is the belief that there is nothing supernatural that happened in the world
- The way they think of God is that He is out there somewhere but He has nothing directly to do with us now
- In the beginning God did create the heavens & the earth, but He merely wound the universe up like a clock & let it go
- There is some truth to that, but to say that God doesn’t intervene with what we call miracles, demonstrates that “naturalism” has a greater hold on them than they realised
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- Now for those who are unsure about what I meant here in regard to “some truth to that” – in Genesis, you see that God did instill in the earth the ability to regenerate itself
29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
- There, it is talking about “seed-bearing seeds” or “seeds that produce seeds”
- Seeds in trees having the ability to reproduce themselves
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- But that is way different from saying that God doesn’t intervene in His world in miraculous ways
- As in the miracles of Moses, the prophets; of Jesus’ miracles and in the supreme case in His resurrection from the dead
1. The Influence of Worldly Ideas
1. The Influence of Worldly Ideas
- Some of the Corinthians - & these are probably the anti-Paul faction of the church – say that there is no resurrection of the dead
Q. Now where did this come from?
- Well, hopefully, you’ve been tuning into the things we’ve been saying in past sermons on 1st Corinthians
- Platonic dualism (from philosopher Plato) – this was a powerful influence back then & it still packs a punch today
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- Plato taught that there is quite a difference between the spiritual & material of the world – for him, there is a huge divide here
- Everything spiritual was intrinsically good whilst everything material was intrinsically evil
- Plato taught that the soul was the good part of a man & that the soul was trapped within a material body (like it’s in a prison)
- At death, the soul has been freed
- We can see the reaction from the Greeks in Athens to Paul’s preaching on the bodily resurrection of Christ
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.”
- Some began to sneer – mock, ridicule, scoff – who would want to come back in a body!!!
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- This dichotomy or division between soul or spiritual on the one hand & the body or material on the other, has had a huge impact on the church over many centuries
- The whole idea of silent “spiritual” contemplation where a monk would sit in silence for hours on end in contemplation of God has its roots in platonic thinking
- Sure, nothing wrong with sitting & contemplating the greatness of God but this obsession or the inordinate stress upon this practice stemmed from the influence of this philosophy of Plato
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- This philosophy also had crept in through the reformation with its sharp dichotomy between faith & works & between faith & baptism
- Faith is spiritual, works is material / faith is spiritual, baptism is material - things you do in the body
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
- This has been one of the most misinterpreted texts of all Scripture
- Paul’s concern here is the Jewish reliance on law – that is what he means by works – works of the law!
- The dichotomy is not between faith & works or faith & baptism, but faith & the Law
- There is no question that we can only be saved by grace – I have never suggested anything but that – but we cannot go distorting what the apostle says by having a prior commitment to platonic dualism
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- Let’s take this further – growing up, I never heard of the resurrection of the body – all I heard was that when you died, your soul went to heaven
- People are still talking like this
- I challenge you to think afresh & check the Scriptures out to see where it specifically says that when you die your soul goes to heaven
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- That we will be in the presence of the Lord at death is a given
- But what will time be like when you are dead?
- Will you be conscience for a thousand years?
- The way I think of it is that when I die I will, at the same time, be awaken as Jesus comes to the earth – it will be instantaneous (no matter how long the earth continues)
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- Now here’s something for you to chew over – in Ephesians we are told that we are already seated with Christ in the heavenly places – true
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
- Jesus tells us to lay up our treasures in heaven
- But I have failed to find anything we could say was a definite statement that our soul, objectively, will float to heaven when we die
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- No such dichotomy exists in the Scriptures when they are interpreted correctly
- The Scriptures promote the fact that we are created good – all things God created are good
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
- They promote abstinence from marriage, like the Corinthians because it is a hindrance to the “spiritual” side of life
- For those who had already believed that they have emerged from the Christian faith as to be like the angels in heaven, marriage & marital intimacy will hold them back from the spiritual side of life (material)
- Unfortunately, this is where the Corinthians sit & it also explains why their women were wanting to abandon their role as mothers & wives & to join the ranks of being neither male nor female
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- My point in raising this is that what is out there in the world, impacts what you think, believe & do in church life
- There are serious consequences to denying the resurrection of the body
- Far from being repugnant, it is actually a wonderful blessing & we will find out more as we continue through this chapter
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- Since the Age of reason, or enlightenment, we have come through another period – a period that reacted to this dry bones approach to life & living
- Everything was not about reason or scientific inquiry - life is not predetermined as the evolutionist thought
- Life was also about experience & living – pure reason could never access the experiences - & decisions we make from those experiences
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- This reactionary philosophy in this period was called “Existentialism”
- Rudolph Bultmann was a German scholar from the Lutheran tradition
- He was a clever man – very good at Greek – and he was professor of NT at the university of Marburg, Germany
- In 1941 he began his calls for the demythologization of the Bible
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- He wanted to strip the Bible of what he believed were myths
- By myths he means miracles
- This guy was a mixture of the enlightenment & existentialist periods
- You can see how these 2 philosophies had influenced him
- By seeing this, you can understand why he chose to reject the bodily resurrection of Jesus
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- In his mind, all that was important was the experience of the Christ
- If you experienced Him, then that was all that mattered
- It was the feelings you got from you deciding/choosing to believe
- In his mind, the bodily resurrection did not have to be true to experience the Christ
- Well, I reject that outright
- I reject the “naturalism” of the enlightenment period which denies miracles by its a priori commitment to a material only universe
- I reject the “existentialism” of the only experience matters since God is the God of history - it is His story in His ordering of the material universe including the historical resurrection of Jesus
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Q. He had the Bible – why could he not read what Paul is saying here?
14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
- What! Can’t’ he read?
- Yes, he can. But he was obviously unaware of the impact on him from the philosophies of the day
Q. If everyone was aware of how they were impacted, they would change their mind straightaway, wouldn’t they?
- So too, we should be very aware of the inroads of our culture upon our thinking
2. The Logical Outcome of Denying Bodily Resurrection
2. The Logical Outcome of Denying Bodily Resurrection
- The apostle lays out the obvious conclusions you would make out of denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus
a. If the material body is not raised, then neither is Christ
a. If the material body is not raised, then neither is Christ
Q. Assuming this statement is true, what are the implications of Christ not having been raised?
- Well, lets go back to last week’s message for a tick
- If you remember, there it was said that since Christ was raised from the dead, bodily, we can interpret His death as having true saving significance
- He died for our sins
- We also saw that if He was not raised, then the only interpretation of His death is that He was a failed Messiah who, foolishly, got caught up in the politics of the day & got Himself crucified
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- The point is here that if Jesus was not raised then the forgiveness of sins which we all claim to experience would truly be a myth
- We would still be in our sins because if Christ was not raised, then Paul’s preaching that we have forgiveness in Christ & our faith in Jesus would be a massive waste of time & energy
- We would be doomed
b. The apostles would be charged with being false witnesses
b. The apostles would be charged with being false witnesses
- Here is one of the most powerful arguments for the truthfulness of the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection
- These men took enormous heat from fellow Jews & savage Gentile politicians to proclaim in Jesus, His resurrection
- They believed that God raised Jesus from the dead & they were aware that the 9th commandment in the Law is that “you shall not lie”
- Now “you shall not lie” is quite misleading because that commandment’s intention is to speak against being a false witness that causes another person to be deprived of justice
20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
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- If you recall, Ahab had set his sights on the vineyard of the man Naboth
- But the king was Israeli enough to know that the law of God did not permit him to take it by force
- If Naboth refused his financial offer, the king had to accept that he couldn’t have it
- With this rejection, he sat & sulked
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- His marriage to Jezebel, was a match made in hell as he was forbidden by the law from taking a foreign wife, but the politics of the day was that huge trade deals with other nations were sealed by the marriage of the Israelite king to the foreign king’s daughter
- Solomon had 700 wives & 300 concubines – that is what led to his undoing & his unfaithfulness to God
- The women brought in to Israel foreign religious influences & idolatry & it corrupted, not only the king, but the nation as well
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- Jezebel who was from Phoenicia & herself a Baal worshipper was horrified by her husband, Ahab’s, lack of Kingly power
- The Israelite King was subject to God’s law, whereas a Phoenician king did what he liked
- In disgust, she tells Ahab that she will get Naboth's vineyard for him
- Notice, Ahab did an Adam here & did not forbid his wife from taking a lead towards sinning against God
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- She organised what the Bible calls “worthless men” to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God & the King of which the Law of God says would subject a person to capital punishment
- This is so evil – they violate the Law which says not to falsely accuse a person, yet make sure the Law is upheld to stone & end Naboth’s life
- After it happened, Jezebel instructs Ahab to go & take possession of the vineyard – Naboth is dead & now out of the way
- He goes there, but God had instructed Elijah to be there too at the same time & you can imagine the words of God through Elijah
19 “You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” ’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs will lick up your blood, even yours.” ’ ”
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- The point of all this is to demonstrate to you that being a false witness is an unthinkable crime against God
- If the Corinthians are correct that Jesus did not rise, then it not only implicates the apostles & all the other eyewitnesses in a falsehood in a breach of the 9th commandment, but also God who testified that He would raise Christ from the dead
- Whatever you want to think of the apostles, they were men who loved God & there would have been no reason nor persuasion that would have coerced them into lying about the resurrection of Jesus
- Their God-fearing consciences would never have allowed them to continue with a false accusation like that
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- Now if you are going to assess the trustworthiness of a witness, then I suggest you consider these things:
How to tell a Credible Witness
1. Are they into risk aversion – Do they compromise under pressure?
- Peter & John went to prison & told the authorities that they must obey God not man
2. What is at stake for them – Financial reward/loss
- There was only loss (in this life) for them to witness to the resurrection of Jesus
- Paul would hardly be bearing in his body the dying of Jesus if he knew he was peddling a lie
3. Transformation – what is their track record
- They were cowards after Jesus was arrested & crucified (perhaps thinking He was a phoney & becoming very despondent). After the resurrection they were fearless & brave
- The apostle Paul went from persecutor of Christ to an apostle of Christ – all because he saw Jesus alive from the dead
4. Their Theological Funnel – are they God-centred or man-centred
- Do they care more for what God thinks OR more for what man thinks?
- Are they looking for accolades from men, or praise from God?
- I think you know the answer to this
3. The Logical Consequences of Denying Bodily Resurrection
3. The Logical Consequences of Denying Bodily Resurrection
Q. Do you believe Jesus was bodily raised from the dead?
Q. Is it open to historical investigation? Yes, it is
- However, you need to realise that the resurrection of Jesus can only be accepted by faith
- That does not mean that, historically, it cannot be substantiated
- Its just that a person cannot accept the facts of Christ without a change in the heart from God
- Accepting the death, burial & resurrection as a reality & as the truth will need more than just facts – it will need a miracle of God in the conversion of that person
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- There are consequences to denying that Jesus rose in the body
- Paul outlines here 2 very important points about denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus
a. You are still in your sins
a. You are still in your sins
- I mentioned this earlier – it you don’t accept that Jesus rose, then you cannot accept that He died for your sins
- There can be no proof that what He had done was approved by God
- Any Tom, Dick or Harry could have been crucified & claimed that He did it for God – who would know? What proof would you have from God?
- If Jesus didn’t rise, NO ONE has died for your sins – you are still in them & still have them hanging over your head
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- This is the consequence in saying that Jesus did not rise bodily
- It’s not only untrue but devastating to your life with God – you wouldn’t have one
- Also, denying the bodily resurrection of Christ completely destroy Christianity as well as completely destroying your faith
b. Those who have died in Christ are lost
b. Those who have died in Christ are lost
- Paul uses the word perished & it does cause us to think carefully about the fate of all those who have not heard of Christ or have not accepted Christ – it’s that important
- Here, he says that if Christ has not been raised bodily, then those who believed in Christ have perished
- So you have become a Christian, you have heard about Christ & believed in Him, BUT if it is true that He hasn’t risen from the dead, then sins have not been dealt with & thus those Christians who have died WOULD NOT BE reconciled with God
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- The word PERISHED itself doesn’t mean the second death, but it is used to describe a person who is lost in sin & doomed
3 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
- This is very serious & it tells us of the fate of everyone who does not have the forgiveness of sins through Christ
- No person, no matter how good they are can be saved unless they are reconciled to God
- You have good people who want nothing to do with the Lord – they aren’t even off the starting blocks because their niceness or goodness is not the gauge for acceptance with God – its about relationship & reconciliation
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- So if Christ has not risen bodily, the whole world is lost in sin & have & will perish
- No wonder Paul says, that if we suffer for Jesus sake; if we live for Christ & go without to glorify Him – only to find out that the end result is that we PERISH, then we are of anyone, the ones most to be pitied
- In that case, eat, drink & be merry would have been the better option
- But this is not the case, because Christ has risen, He has dealt with sin & He has reconciled us to God
- I hope that through these thoughts today that we can truly rejoice knowing that Christ has indeed risen from the grave
Questions:
1. What is it about Dualism (Spirit/material distinction) that seems to be so appealing to people? Could it be related to our inability to master the flesh?
2. What has convinced you that Jesus rose bodily?