What If...?

 How strong is your faith in resurrection? An old frontier pastor was ending a stirring sermon. "If you believe in resurrection, put up your hands!" Every hand went up. All but one grizzled old cowboy. He'd been standing in back. His spurs jangled as he ambled up to the pulpit. All eyes turned toward him. "Preacher, how do you know these folks mean it? I can prove who has faith & who don't!" Pastor said, "Ok, stranger, put the faith of these good people to the test. Ask 'em anything you want." The cowpoke pulled out twin 6-shooters, aimed them at the congregation, & glared. "If you believe in resurrection, raise a hand!" Is our faith in resurrection so strong we're ready to go even if it's now? I bet we prefer Resurrection to be later. What if it was? Pastor Steve Shepherd tells a story about a singing group called The Resurrection. They were scheduled to sing at big church. But a snowstorm postponed it. So, Pastor changed the outside sign. "The Resurrection is postponed." Would it matter if it was postponed? Or never happened? Corinthian church members were struggling with the idea of Resurrection. They were mostly Greek. To them spirit was good, and flesh bad. They thought the body was a prison for the good spirit-soul. They thought death set that good spirit-soul free. They did believe the soul to be immortal. But the idea that a sinful (bad) body would be resurrected? Offensive! That's the issue Paul faces in 1 Cor 15:12-20. Let's look. 12If it's preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there's no resurrection of the dead? Wait-how's that? Yes, Jesus is fully God. But He's also fully human. Know that that means? 13If there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. We all know that's false. But for the sake of the argument, let's keep pushing it. 14aAnd if Christ hasn't been raised, our preaching is useless. All preaching. Paul's, the other apostle's, mine, & everyone else's. There's only one gospel. Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, & on the 3rd day was resurrected. If that isn't true, much more than preaching is useless. 14bSo is your faith. Wait-what? That's right. If Jesus didn't come in the body, how could he offer a body as the sacrifice for our sins? And if we aren't forgiven, what use is faith? 15aMore than that, preachers are then found to be false witnesses about God. Lying about God? That's worse than useless preaching! How so? 15bWe've testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. If God didn't, preachers are saying something untrue about God! That's a serious charge to against ones who claim to represent God. And against Paul, who founded their church! If the Corinthians are right, 15cGod didn't raise Jesus if in fact the dead aren't raised. Think about it. 16If the dead aren't raised, Christ hasn't been raised either. And that's a problem. Why? 17aIf Christ hasn't been raised, your faith is futile. If He's still in the grave, hope in Him for salvation is pointless. That's a real problem. If He's still dead, 17bwe're still dead in our sins. Did you get that? If we deny resurrection in our future, we also deny forgiveness of sins in our past! Without resurrection, there's no forgiveness. And if all we face is death, where's hope? Know what else that means? 18Those also who've fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If Christ is still dead, not only do we have no hope. There's also no hope seeing again our loved ones who already died. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we're to be pitied more than all men. If hope for this life is all there is, when in eternity would we ever see the perfect? No more pain? No more suffering? No more tears? No more death? If Christ isn't risen, it's all gone! The Christian life is only best if we have hope in Christ for a better world in eternity. 20aBut Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. Paul is a true witness. The real false witness? Anyone who denies it. Proof? 20bChrist is the 1stfruits of those who've fallen asleep. According to William Barclay1, the resurrection proves 4 great facts. 1. Truth is stronger than falsehood. Jesus came with The Truth about God & what goodness looks like in His eyes. His enemies killed him because they preferred their false view & the status quo. The Resurrection is the final guarantee of the truth. 2. The Resurrection proves that good is stronger than evil. In Jn 8:44, Jesus told his enemies, "You belong to your father, the devil." The forces of evil executed Jesus. If there had been no Resurrection, evil would've won. The Resurrection proves it. In the end, good will win over evil. 3. The Resurrection proves that love is stronger than hatred. His enemies hated Him. In their hatred, they said Satan was the power in His ministry. But Jesus was the love of God in the flesh. Even on the cross, He prayed for them. And on the cross, He saved even those of His enemies that'd trust Him for salvation. The Resurrection is proof. Love is stronger than all their hate. 4. Resurrection proves that life is stronger than death. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead? It'd proved that death, our final enemy, can take & keep the loveliest & best life that ever lived. Jesus' Resurrection proves that life is stronger than death. And in Him, we have that life. We too will be raised. Life wins, over even death. To Barclay's list, I'd add a 5th fact that the Resurrection proves. We want to be better than we are. That's human nature. Our reach always exceeds what we can grasp. Especially when it comes to sin. Our sin nature is strong. Over & over, we prove that we need a Savior. If there's no resurrection? Sin wins. We'll never be free of it. Jesus' Resurrection is the proof that Jesus' perfect life & His death are sufficient to free us from sin's grip. If we've died & been buried in the waters of baptism, we're free of sin's grip. His resurrection is the final proof. Let's wrap it up. How great is the resurrection? Some years ago, a B.C. cartoon shows us. 2 women are sitting on a small hill. One is reading her Bible & looks up. "It says here that Jesus descended into hell!" The other woman was shocked. "You're kidding!" The woman with the Bible replied, "Oh, no. Not to stay! He just dropped in to cancel our reservations!" Jesus' Resurrection is the proof. Trust Jesus for salvation, & our reservation has in fact been canceled. 1 Daily Study Bible, 1 Corinthians; section If Christ Be Not Raised, 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ What If...? - 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Page 1 of 1