Not Fearing Death.

1 Corinthians 15:1–20 NIV

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve 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 to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Introduction: Thoughts that come into my head - Flying, sometimes on a roller coaster. - Then my next thought goes to the resurrection.

1. it’s current events too. There is fear that is rampant in the world today. People do not trust the government. All branches of our government have historically low approval ratings. Protests, here and abroad, are becoming so common that it feels like white noise. Meanwhile, social media has become the public forum of all that is ugly. Moderation is gone. Chapman University conducts a fairly in-depth survey every year called the “Chapman University Survey on American Fears” (survey summary for 2018 available here: https://www.chapman.edu/wilkinson/research-centers/babbie-center/_files/fear-2018/2018-Fear-Campaign-Summary.pdf). Let’s look at the top fears of Americans: people we love dying or becoming seriously ill, not enough money to pay the bills, government corruption, environmental degradation. Pretty bleak picture, isn’t it? This is the climate we are living in. So what does the Easter Sunday have to do with all of this? Everything.

29-Jesus was victorious

Creedal Tradition:

* Case for Christ – Dr. Craig Blomberg

* 1 Corinthians an early Creed Dating possibly back to within 2 years of Christ’s Death.

* Jesus Died in 30 AD

* Paul’s Conversion in 32 AD and Met Ananias and other Disciple’s

* 35 AD Paul meets with Peter and some of the 12

* This is when he would have received this creedal statement.

Ehrman 2012, pp. 4–5: "Serious historians of the early Christian movement—all of them—have spent many years preparing to be experts in their field. Just to read the ancient sources requires expertise in a range of ancient languages: Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and often Aramaic, Syriac, and Coptic, not to mention the modern languages of scholarship (for example, German and French). And that is just for starters. Expertise requires years of patiently examining ancient texts and a thorough grounding in the history and culture of Greek and Roman antiquity, the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, both pagan and Jewish, knowledge of the history of the Christian church and the development of its social life and theology, and, well, lots of other things. It is striking that virtually everyone who has spent all the years needed to attain these qualifications is convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure."

Gary Habermas -

1) that Jesus died by crucifixion; 2) that very soon afterwards, his followers had real experiences that they thought were actual appearances of the risen Jesus; 3) that their lives were transformed as a result, even to the point of being willing to die specifically for their faith in the resurrection message; 4) that these things were taught very early, soon after the crucifixion; 5) that James, Jesus’ unbelieving brother, became a Christian due to his own experience that he thought was the resurrected Christ; and 6) that the Christian persecutor Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) also became a believer after a similar experience.

So why do even critical scholars admit or allow these individual historical facts?  The answer is that each one is virtually undeniable.

- According to Paul it is not just Jesus rising from the dead that makes the difference, it is the implications.

30 - Jesus was raised, so we are raised.

C. Every part of the Gospel is important, but every part is meaningless without the Resurrection – It Changed Everything.

Gary Habermas - on Near Death Experiences - NDE's - When people he debates agree with him that the evidence for the empty tomb is overwhelming, but can not come up with an explanation, because they have to believe in a Narnia or another world. - Documented NDE's.

- Example of NDE from Gary Habermas.

31 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8SO_aCk_sU

32 - Another large retrospective investigation of near-death experiences that included out-of-body observations was recently published.11 This study was a review of 617 NDEs that were sequentially shared on the NDERF website. Of these NDEs, there were 287 NDEs that had OBEs with sufficient information to allow objective determination of the reality of their descriptions of their observations during the OBEs. Review of the 287 OBEs found that 280 (97.6%) of the OBE descriptions were entirely realistic and lacked any content that seemed unreal. In this group of 287 NDErs with OBEs, there were 65 (23%) who personally investigated the accuracy of their own OBE observations after recovering from their life-threatening event. Based on these later investigations, none of these 65 OBErs found any inaccuracy in their own OBE observations.

33 - We can live victoriously.

To Greyson, the impact near-death experiences have on people’s lives has been his most surprising discovery. “I make a living by trying to help people change their lives,” he says. “It’s not easy to do. But here I’ve found an experience that, sometimes in a matter of seconds, dramatically transforms people’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours.” Often, these changes persist over decades. In most instances, experiencers realise they are no longer afraid to die, which “has a profound impact on how they live their lives”, because “you lose your fear of life as well – you’re not afraid of taking chances.” Greyson sometimes asks people to describe their partners before and after an event, “and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, this isn’t the person I married; this is someone different.’” He adds, “They see a purpose in life they didn’t see before. I don’t know of anything else that powerful.”

I ask for an example. “I’ve spoken to people who were policemen,” he says, “or career military officers, who couldn’t go back to their jobs, couldn’t stand the idea of violence.” I ask why. He says, “The idea of hurting someone becomes abhorrent to them.” He shrugs. “They end up going into helping professions. They become teachers, or healthcare workers, or social workers.”

What if we actually lived like someone who had an NDE?

- Explanation of Christians who don’t fear the pandemic.

- By the way this also means we don’t need to fear what is happening politically or any of the conspiracy theories that are out there.

On the other hand it also does not mean that we would simply throw caution to the wind either. We would be changed by our attitude towards others.

1. We would want them to experience the Love of God we feel so our motivation would not be fear, but we would take reasonable precautions to love others.

2. Not everyone believes in the resurrection, and so we would want them to Know Jesus before they experience it.

So…Not fearing the Pandemic, because we know ultimately Jesus has overcome,

and yet doing what we can to lovingly not spread the virus so others may live.

So…Not fearing that our Global warming will destroy our earth, because the resurrection points to Jesus restoring the world.

and yet loving the planet God gave us and caring for its health.

So…Not fearing that our government will become entirely corrupt and hostile because Jesus will hold account all governments

and yet loving our country by voting for leaders who are not corrupt and bringing attention to issues.

34 - Application Point - Live as someone who has had a NDE: Completely Confident in Jesus So…Not fearing.....

and yet loving....

35 - Conclusion: Video