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Title: The Most Important Thing
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Thesis: Everything in your life hinges upon what you believe about Jesus of Nazareth.
Introduction:
I honestly do not think I’ve ever preached a more important message than what I am about to deliver to you today.
I don’t say that to say that I’m important, but that this word is vital.
This message, if we miss it, if I miss it, we can easily miss all that matters.
When I say everything hinges upon what you believe about Jesus, I mean it.
Many of you have heard me say this over the past 9 months or so, “Your life imitates your theology.”
What you believe about Jesus shapes everything else in your life.
It changes everything.
If you don’t believe that, if you don’t understand what I mean by that, then you are rejecting the truth of God’s word.
He said
We believe that here.
We believe that everything hinges upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Everything in your life hinges upon what you believe about Jesus of Nazareth now, then, and forever.
Now.
Paul writes, “Now I would remind you” - In the original Greek, he’s saying, “I want to make it known to you, both those of you who might remember and those who don’t.
Remind is the Greek word “gnorizo”, which means to “make known” or “reveal”, but in this context, it could be read as, “I want you to understand, brothers, the Gospel I preached to you, which you received...”
Because the Gospel Paul preached to the churches mattered.
It was the same Gospel, Good News, that was shared by all of Jesus’s disciples, now designated His apostles (His personal representatives) to the whole world.
This good news was key to their message.
In fact, Paul said if anyone deviated from it, that person was to be condemned.
It didn’t matter how good of a speaker a person was, how intelligent they seemed, or how much power they seemed to carry - this Good News was the most important thing.
He told the churches in Galatia,
In other words, if we happened to come back to you preaching a different Gospel, ignore us.
If even an Angel should appear preaching a different Good News, a different means of salvation, that Being is false.
Don’t believe him!
In fact, such a being is to be accursed - that word Paul uses, anathema, means to be condemned to an eternal punishment.
The Gospel matters.
Everything hinges upon it.
And if it has been preached to you, and you received it, you believed it - if you
Romans 10:9 (ESV)
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
You don’t just believe it in your heart, you testify to its truth - that’s standing on it like Paul refers to here.
We call it our “testimony”.
And your testimony - if you believe in Jesus is a powerful thing.
In fact, Paul shares his testimony within our text.
It’s incredible what the Gospel does within a person’s life.
IF, if we truly receive it.
If we believe in vain, we can not expect this message to do anything else.
The writer of Hebrews says it this way:
If we believe it, we receive it, we stand on it, we are saved.
Period.
Nobody can take that from you!
Jesus said,
It was preached, they received it, they stand on it’s truth, and they are saved.
Can we say the same thing this morning?
Do we hear the good news, believe it, stand on it, and believe we are being saved by it?
(I hope so!)
But what is that Good News?
I said it last week, so few people understand or know what the Gospel truly is.
Paul gives it to us here:
“For I delivered to you as of first importance” - in other words, I gave you the most important, most vital, most powerful, most life changing thing.
What was it?
“that Christ died?”
No.
People die all the time.
That’s not to say their deaths are meaningless, but who would care if some Jewish guy died like a criminal 2,000 years ago?
Unless that death has some very incredible, powerful, historic meaning...
“That Christ died for our sins”
The early church understood the purpose behind His death.
He died as a sacrifice.
In the Old Testament Law, an animal would be taken as a sacrifice and after the people had placed their hands on the animal, in a symbolic act of transferring their sins upon it, he would then be led to the slaughter.
The New Testament writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude… they all saw this connection in Christ.
And the list goes on.
Our sin was placed upon Him on the cross.
He paid our debt.
He took on the responsibility of our rebellion.
He was punished in our place.
In fact, Jesus’ last words in the Gospel of John
When he utters the words “It is finished”, in the Greek that is only one word.
“tetelestai”.
(τετελεσται) and it literally means, “It’s paid in full.”
They’ve actually found the word on ancient receipts where people have paid off their debts.
The cross is not just an ornament to hang up in a church or around your neck, it is a symbol of the sacrifice our God made for us, in order for us to be made debt free before the righteousness of The Father.
But Paul doesn’t stop there, he adds one more thing - and will say it again...
“In accordance with the Scriptures”
The Old Testament predicted all of this.
All of it.
Isaiah 53:4–5 (ESV)
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
In the Gospel of Matthew he uses the word “fulfill” almost a dozen times (10-11) to show that Christ fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies spoken about Him.
Whether it’s Jesus’s flight to and from Egypt as a baby in Matthew 2:14-15, or Jesus’ use of parables in Matthew 13:35, the Gospel continually points to Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament’s words about Him.
Jesus, Himself, refers to the Old Testament predicting Him in Matthew 26:56
But Paul doesn’t stop there, he goes on… stating
The fact Paul mentions Jesus’ burial only further confirms His actual death - that Jesus was, in fact, physically dead.
You don’t bury men who are alive.
We believe Jesus gave up His spirit, as I mentioned - once everything was fulfilled.
He was dead.
He’d suffered an incredible beating, the pain he’d feel from the crucifixion alone, struggling to exhale was typically how a crucified person would die - having to push or pull themselves up to release their breath...
Not to mention Jesus had a spear jammed through His side and into his heart by a professional soldier, people don’t typically survive such things.
So Paul clarified, He was buried, because He was dead!
But that’s not the end of the good news.
He didn’t stay dead according to the Scriptures.
We saw this last week, in Isaiah, the prediction of a resurrection:
Isaiah 53:10 (ESV)
… he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
We also see it in the Psalms
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