First Importance
Notes
Transcript
Exegetical Purpose: To remind the Corinthians about the centrality of the Resurrection.
Homiletic Purpose: To remind the Church about the centrality of the Resurrection.
Introduction
Introduction
If you asked any old person on the street:
“What is the most important part of Christianity?”
What answer do you reckon you’d get?
“What’s the central message of the Christian faith?”
I reckon it would be something along the lines of “follow Jesus' teaching”
or maybe,
“Love one another like Jesus did”
Both of those are very important parts of Christianity, they’re things that we believe, and they encompass a wide collection of what the Christian faith teaches.
But they’re a bit vague, and, it’s not the most central thing.
I thought I’d have a look at how outsiders describe Christianity, and so I went to Youtube and found some educational short summaries. You know, some of those few minute long videos that try to give an overview.
I noticed a theme emerging over the several that I watched - and that theme, like my imagined q&a that I opened with, has a problem.
These summaries do a decent job of providing an overview, of many of the things we believe, but they miss the main point.
Often they go back and start with Moses & Judaism. They talk about the historical circumstances around Jesus life.
They mention in broad strokes something about the teaching of Jesus, and maybe his miracles.
Then they talk about his “early” death. Attributing Jesus death solely to the actions of a disgruntled government who thought he was a troublemaker.
Jesus death is not considered part of Jesus plan, or his desire, or even a divine fate. It was just stodgy leadership trying to kill off a rival.
Then, the Resurrection of Jesus is sometimes mentioned, as if it were a fanciful claim of wishful thinkers, then they move on as if it was unimportant. That’s if they mention the Resurrection at all!
One of the most popular channel’s for summary videos didn’t even mention the resurrection at all!
It seems that people don’t understand how central and key the Death and Resurrection of Jesus is to our faith. Without both of those things, our faith is futile.
It’s useless.
Some might say that, if people don’t understand how central these things are, we haven’t done a good job of sharing our Christian faith. “It’s a marketing problem.”
I would agree with that, but there’s more to it.
Some might say that there’s a counter narrative at work, where some enemies of Christianity are hard at work making sure that the essential details are hidden or overlooked, kind of like a serpent who would help Eve miss the essential details of what God had said in the garden.
I would agree with that, but there’s more to it.
Some might say that people who are not awakened by the Spirit, find it hard to see and understand our message, because their hearts are cold toward Jesus and his message of life!
I would agree with that, too!
You see, the message of Jesus Death and Resurrection is the central part of our faith.
It’s of first importance.
It’s key.
Without it our faith is useless.
So there’s a lot at stake! It’s the difference between a real faith and life eternal, or deceived masses who’ve wasted their lives.
It’s they key that unlocks the meaning of “Love like Jesus loved”. It is the component that clarifies the meaning of all of Jesus teaching.
The problem with overlooking the central tenants of Christianity was not a new thing. In the early church, some of the Christians at Corinth were suggesting that the whole Resurrection thing was a bit far fetched. If not Jesus’ resurrection, at least there was no chance Christians in general would be raised from the dead.
Paul had to write to them and remind them of the central parts of what we believe about Jesus, and then to explore how that connects with our own faith and future.
So, we’re gonna look at 1 Corinthians 15:1-28. We’re not gonna have time to dive into every nook and cranny of this passage (sorry!), but we are going to ask four big questions that help us know know about the central parts of our faith.
1. What is of First Importance?(v1-7)
1. What is of First Importance?(v1-7)
First thing Paul wants to talk about, and the first thing we need to hear as Christians, is the central parts of our faith.
Everything else about how we are to live and what we are to believe i tied up in this.
Paul feels like he needs to remind the Corinthians because if you don’t have this right, you can go off the rails in all kinds of weird places. Lets look staring in v1
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.
So from the outset of this passage we see that Paul sees the Gospel that he has preached - that is the special message of Good News that he delivered to the Corinthian church - is foundational to their faith. Without it, their faith is vain.
So, there’s no hint here that when they became Christians they started out on some kind of Christianity 101 - beginner course that got them in the door, but then they move on to advanced Christianity that's deeper and more important,
no,
what they started with - the Gospel that Paul brought with him to Corinth - is where they started and where they need to stay. Growing in faith may means growing in understanding and exercising our faith, but the crux of Christianity is around Jesus’ work. That never changes.
The Corinthians need to hold onto this key message. SO much so, that Paul says “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.”
This gospel, and believing in it, are what leads to Salvation. For them back then, and for us now.
So what is that Gospel? What is that Good News that he mentions? Well, he tells us a summary on the next verse:
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,
This is the centre - story of death for sins and resurrection. Let’s flesh it out a bit. Paul just gives a summary here, but he’s calling our minds to the events of the Easter weekend about 2000 years ago when Jesus was died.
We read about this on Friday together
Willingly went to the cross, of his own volition, following God’s plan.
He was crucified at the behest of the Jews, and under the permission of the Romans.
He was buried in a tomb - and sealed in with a guard outside.
Then, on the third day of death, he rose from the dead!
He died for our sins - atonement, in our place. Restores a relationship.
“When he rose, we all cheered, because it means the cheque cleared”
All this in fulfillment of the scriptures!
Paul’s readers needed to be reminded, even a few decades after Jesus, that this was of first importance. It was central.
This is the centre, and why Australia, who used to be a self-proclaimed Christian nation, set aside a this weekend to be a special holiday every year. It is the high point of Christianity, it’s core and center, and so we celebrate the death of Jesus on Good Friday, and the resurrection a few days later on Easter Sunday.
This is the centre, and so, I’m going to preach on Jesus death for sins and Resurrection alot! You might get sick of it! I’m only new here, so you haven’t had a chance to grow weary of it yet!
But I hope we never grow tired of it! Finding our joy and hope in this message of love and grace! Finding fuel for our faith!
But, I wanted to give you the heads up. Prepare you for what is to come!
If I was doing anything less from this pulpit, then I would ask that you turf me out!
All the scriptures find their fulfillment in Jesus! So every passage we touch on is going to have some link back to Jesus! In order for Flooding Creek’s proclamation to be “Christian” it must feature Christ!
Now, I don’t plan on trying to find Jesus death and resurrection in every nook and cranny of scripture - the scriptures woven by God are much more beautiful and deep than that - but when it’s there - we’re gonna talk about it!The bible is not about self help - though it may speak to that authoritatively.
Remember, The bible is primarily about God’s rescue plan through Jesus. It’s not about a scientific explanation for the origins of life - though it may speak to that authoritatively.
…parenting - though it may speak to that authoritatively.
…money...
…not even morals...
The bible is about Jesus!
So we will always be circling around these matters of First importance!
It’s also important to remember that this is a real Jesus, who really died, and really rose - there were a bunch of witnesses!
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.
Jesus really did rise from the dead - it was historically verified!
We believe a great many things with much less proof - but people are often hung up on this. It’s too far fetched. To be fair, it’s a pretty big deal, but it was proved!
How do we establish truth in our courts? It’s by witnesses! And if it can’t be proved by eyewitness, it may be proved by camera witness, and documents and forensic evidence. All the evidence points to the reality of the truth, no matter how outlandish it may seem.
The evidence points to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus was verified - over and over and over again. Because of the vast number of witnesses.
People won’t believe, not because of lack of evidence, but because of deaf ears and blind eyes.
Believing that Jesus rose from the dead has serious consequences - it validates everything he said! And hearing what Jesus really said is leads us to choose between going down the hard road to eternal life, or along the the self-focused freeway to damnation.
If you want to go through the evidence - I’d love to walk you through it!
<summarise the centrality of the gospel>
2. Who will God use? (v8-11)
2. Who will God use? (v8-11)
God worked through Paul - an opponent and persecutor of Christianity.
Yet, Jesus chose Paul as his messenger, His apostle, to take the message to the world. Let’s look.
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.
he had every reason to be ashamed and wallowing in Guilt, but Jesus forgave him, and used him as a tool.
He wasn’t a witness in the traditional sense, like the other apostles.
You might think the vision he saw made him a bit “cuckoo” but, when you compare this with the other evidence, of so many eyewitnesses, it lines up.
By the grace of God in Paul the Gospel came to huge swathes of the greco-roman world, and through the scripture he wrote, the message has gone to the ends of the earth.
You - you may have every reason to feel ashamed when you come before God. You may have even considered staying home today because you don’t feel worthy to be before God or among his people. But, God is a Redeemer - he redeems people like Paul and you and me, and makes us us tools of grace.
God meets us where we are and changes us through Jesus.
None of us should expect to be Paul. But occasionally God will raise up a Spurgeon or a Billy Graham to be used mightily. But more often than not God will uses us as recovering-sinners in the life of other sinners to help them see more of God’s goodness in Jesus. He works primarily through ordinary lives, of ordinary people to bring eternal life to many.
Usually, the only thing that stands in the way of God using us, is our own apprehension. Our own unwillingness.
If God can change Paul, he can change that person you know who is openly hostile to God, and he can change you and use you as a witness.
We haven’t seen the resurrection Jesus yet, but we have seen his work in our own lives and down through history. We can be witnesses of that!
3. Why is resurrection critical? (12-18)
3. Why is resurrection critical? (12-18)
The passage now helps us to see how Jesus and Christians are intrinsically tied together in reurrection.
Resurrection of Jesus means the resurrection of His people. We are tied together. Jesus is our leader, our head and our guide.
He’s our Representative.
As a man, he died and rose again from the dead, and now his people will do the same.
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’re inexorably linked. Where Jesus goes, there we go.
If you try and split off these things it doesn’t work - you can’t have Christianity without resurrection, either our future resurrection, or Jesus’ past resurrection.
Not only that - if God is real, and resurrection is not real, then going around spouting the resurrection of Jesus and Christians is essentially lying about God. Not something that we want to be in the habit of doing!
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.
Without reurrection, we’re useless!
All the blood and suffering of millennia is wasted.
The sacrifices we make to stand with Jesus against the world are futile.
We waste our Sunday mornings. We waste our evenings. We waste our lives.
It’s not just “If it’s not true, at least we lived a good life”, that minimizes everything that our faith is. It’s not a moral code.
It means that our loved ones who have died, are lost.
Without resurrection, of Jesus, or his people, our faith is missing an integral component, like a car without a motor, it can’t go anywhere.
You might says, “OK Samuel, we get it, resurrection and Christianity go hand in hand. Jesus was raised from the dead,. and we will be too in the future. So what? isn’t this kind of assumed now?”
No, there are two reasons we need to take this seriously
there are still Christians out there who don’t believe in the resurrection. People who take the miraculous out of the Bible, they essentially edit the bible to suit themselves. The see resurrection as a spiritual thing - not something that is physical and bodily.
There are people who don’t go to the same extent, but they spiritualise the future with God - they reduce eternal life to a spiritual existence with God in heaven. This was the trap that the Corinthians were falling into! I may be challenging your assumptions - but I challenge you to go and find everything in the Bible about going to heaven. You’ll find that there isn’t much. But what about eternal life with God in a New Creation? There’s tonnes! Our hope is not for a disembodies existence, but rather that our souls would be one with our bodies with God.
4. When will we be resurrected? (v20-28)
4. When will we be resurrected? (v20-28)
Last big question, reveals that we will be resurrected with Jesus return. Which we’ll come to in a moment.
Jesus is the key to undo the chains imposed on us by our forfathers.
We’re all affected by the descisions of our forefathers - it’s a modern novelty (and deception) that you can be the author of your own destiny, but if we sit back and think about it - all of us have our lives determined by things outside our control. One of those things was our ancestor Adam, who sinned against God and plunged our whole human race into death.
Jesus is the undo-er of death. The representative we need to free us.
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 the resurrection is not here yet. Jesus has risen, but for now, humanity still experiences some of the effects of death.
God has his plan. He’s tied the resurrection to the world to come. Our resurrection is connected to the end of the world - to judgment day.
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.
The end is coming. The day when Jesus returns and death is fully and finally overthrown.
Then we can join Jesus - who has gone before us - in rising from death to live with him.
We don’t expect all the benefits now - we’re still on the way home.
What now?
What now?
Remember - the real life, death and resurrection of the real Jesus forms the basis of our spiritual faith!
The death for sin and resurrection are central! Death for atonement - resurrection in victory over death!
Faith in Christ - receiving the Gospel - is the key to forgiveness and salvation.
This message is going out to all the world - and God uses sinners like us, even outright enemies.
Resurrection is our hope, tied up with the return of Jesus and God’s final judgment.