I Corinthians 15:1-5 "Matters of First Importance"

Introduction:

Today we begin a new topical series on the mission and message of the church and defending that mission and message in the world.

When it comes to our message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is exclusive. This means that there is simply no other means by which sinful man can be reconciled to a Holy God.

Scripture makes this claim itself and it should be of no surprise to us that this is true.

I Corinthians 14 :36-40 is just one of the places in the New Testament where we are told that false prophets and those who practice false spirituality reject what the Apostles taught. And those false teachers and that false spirituality is not to be accepted in the church.

It is still happening today as it was in the first century. The Apostolic Gospel is too often minimized in the Church in America and usually it is a domesticated and less confrontational message.

Some consider the biblical gospel bigoted due to its exclusivity or it is considered an out of date remedy for the complexity of the human condition.

But for the Apostle Paul it was seen as the priority of ministry in the first century. This due to what it does in the life of those who receive it. He reminds the Corinthians of the priority of the Gospel in verses 1-2:

I. The Priority of the Gospel (1-2).

The Gospel was the hallmark of the Apostle Paul’s ministry and he wants to remind the Church in Corinth of this because of the false teachers and a false spirituality that had infiltrated their ranks.

And this Gospel is the very Gospel that Paul had preached and that they had embraced.

It was this Gospel that they were standing in and by which they were being saved. These two ideas denote not only the Gospel placing them in Christ for their justification by faith but this Gospel was also sanctifying them in their faith.

Paul knew that true faith perseveres. True faith holds fast to the Apostolic Gospel. The only reason it doesn’t is when faith is an extension of human vanity. It has a human orientation tied to it that defines it.

Believing in vain denotes a faith that does not really take the critical matters of the Gospel into consideration. Vain faith is an uninformed faith or a faith that fails to take the implications of the Gospel into account.

I have encountered many people who call themselves religious or maybe even a Christians yet their faith is an extension of their own perceptions of what constitutes the basis of God’s acceptance of them.

Story of old Jewish man who owned a hardware store in Chicago. I would share the Gospel with him whenever I got the chance and one day he told me, “son you just got to have faith”.

I agreed but I questioned “faith in what?’ He answered “the law”. I said, “faith in our ability to keep it? Because with all due respect Mr. Gilman I was in here last Saturday and you were here working.”

Everybody on planet earth has faith and if it is not in the Christ of the Apostolic witness contained in the Bible it is rooted back in some aspect of human imagination and it is tantamount to believing in vain.

This is why the real Gospel revealed in the Scripture has the priority. The Scripture reveals the content of the gospel and the implications that go with it. Look at verses 3-5:

II. The Content of the Gospel (3-5).

The beginning of verse 3 Paul refers to the content of the Gospel as a matter of first importance. So there is no mistake that he sees it as the priority. The content tells us why.

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (3).

The phrase “according to the Scriptures” is understood in all of the content descriptions. Not based on Paul’s imagination.

Christ died indeed. Even secular and religious historians know that but the Gospel qualifies that death to be a death for our sins.

Set this in the greater narrative of the whole of the Bible and you see that His death is a sacrificial one. One that took the place of sinners in order to pay for their sin.

The Old Testament sets up the sacrificial system and the law lays down the legal requirements of it.

Christ was buried (4a).

This denotes that He fully embraced sin and the consequences of death that are attached to it.

He took all of our sin and paid the legal requirements of it before God on our behalf.

Our Islamic friends try to argue that Jesus only appeared to die. Some call this the “swoon theory” and they argue that Jesus didn’t really die, he just appeared to. He made a recovery a few days later and appeared to his disciples.

For Jesus to endure what He endured at the hands of Roman soldiers in crucifixion there was no way he would have recovered. The Romans were not in the habit of leaving people they crucified alive.

He was laid to rest in the tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. This was in fulfillment to the Scripture from Isiah 53:9 “And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death.” Christ died and was buried and then:

Christ was raised on the third day (4b-5).

This is not a mythological production of a concept of supernaturalism to boaster the Messianic claims of Christ. This took place according to the Scriptures.

The Old Testament tells us this. Psalm 16:10: “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption”.

There also were actually eye witnesses of His resurrected body. Cephas/ Peter and then to the 12. Also to 500 brothers at one time, James and all the Apostles and last but not least to the Apostle Paul himself. Paul actually did refer to himself as least of the Apostles.

But the point is that once sin had been paid in full death had no more legal claim on Christ under the law. (Death is not normal).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the quintessential proof of His exclusivity as the only one through whom sin can be atoned and the justice of God be satisfied.

Each one of these elements of content reveal something about God and His righteous character but each of these elements reveal something about the nature and condition of fallen man.

When the Gospel is tweaked or when it is ostracized the compromise is always in the area of either who God is in His character or who man is in his character.

God is usually redefined to be less than He is but man is also usually redefined to be more than he is. This is because the gap between God and man has to be attainable through human effort and performance.

The religions of the world are like this and so is a Christianity that emphasizes human achievement and performance as the means of being justified or counted as righteous before God.

How wide is the gap? Infinite only infinite righteousness can span it.

Mr. Gilman went on to tell me that God is merciful and I wholeheartedly agreed with Him. but I asked, “on the basis of what is His mercy extended? And how does He do this and be just at the same time?”

Mr. Gilman shrugged his shoulders and said you just got to believe as he walked away.

Conclusion:

Unbeliever do not walk away today. You believe in something, everyone does. Even the Atheist believes there is no God. But that belief or any other belief that is an extension of human vanity will not save you.

It will actually condemn you in the end because it is another gospel that you believe and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You need a savior who can take your place and meet the demands of God’s law and pay your penalty before God. Believe the true Gospel of Jesus Christ alone!

Christian today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and it tell us the story again through the sacrament. This is not about moralism. Spurgeon said, “Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell”.

Christ has paid our debt in full and we are called to examine our hearts in preparation for this table. We come to it in full reliance on the Gospel. Confess and receive his grace. (I Cor. 11:27-31 Examine).

Lets Pray!