Sermon Tone Analysis

BRTP

Sermon buddy

I have a question for you this morning and it is a trick question.

So put your thinking caps on.

Find your sermon buddy and ask them, “Can I borrow your thinking cap?”

And as you’re putting your thinking caps on, let me tell you a little story that will prepare you for the question.

In 2007, Discovery Channel aired a documentary called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.”

The guy that produced claimed, “Hey, I found an ossuary — which is a box of bones — in Jerusalem and on that box was an inscription: ‘Jesus, son of Joseph.’”

Another box contained the bones of someone named Mary and still another contained the bones of someone named “Judas, son of Jesus.”

So this guy said, “Hey, guess what?

I have found the actual body of Jesus of Nazareth.

So I guess that means he didn’t actually rise from the dead three days after his death.

Take that, Christians!”

The interesting is that when the actual experts looked at the evidence, they found it unconvincing.

To start with, all of those names - Judas, Jesus, Mary, Joseph - were extremely common names in the ancient world.

So it would be like someone today saying “Hey, I found the bones of George Washington in my church’s cemetery.”

Really?

How do you know?

“Well, because it says “Here lies George.”

The other thing is, the boxes didn’t actually contain the bones!

Grave robbers had long since stolen the bones!

Still, however, the media managed to make it into a story that might cause Christians to doubt the truthfulness of their faith, because here was a box that must have at one time contained the actual bones of Jesus, even if they weren’t there anymore.

So here’s the question for you:

If it were discovered that Jesus never rose from the dead, would you still believe in Him?

If the bones of Jesus of Nazareth had been discovered in an ossuary in Jerusalem, and this time it’s not a hoax, it’s real, and proven — if it was a historical, scientific certainty — with DNA confirmation, with Christian scholars agreeing — if it became abundantly clear to you that Jesus had not risen but in fact was dead,

...would you still believe in Jesus?

Now, here’s how this is going to work.

I’m going to teach through this passage, and you’re going to use it to help you answer that question.

In our text this morning, the apostle Paul explores the very same question.

What if the resurrection had not happened?

What would that mean for our beliefs?

And Paul was exploring that question not as an abstract exercise.

This was real life.

The church in the big city of Corinth had some folks there who were saying, “Look, resurrection?

Really?

How many times have you seen a dead body get up and come back to life?

It just doesn’t happen.”

So what Paul does in these verses here is say, “Alright, Corinthians - you say there’s no such thing as a resurrection.

Let’s take that logic all the way to the end of the road.

What would that mean for you?”

And he gives us five things that would be true if the resurrection were not true.

#1: If the resurrection never happened, your faith is of no value

So let’s start with verse 12. Bibles out, heads down, reading along with me in God’s word.

“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”

“You heard us preach the resurrection, Corinthians.

It’s part of the gospel message that we preached, it’s part of the gospel message that you heard and accepted.

So why are you now questioning the resurrection?

Why have some of you embraced this idea that resurrection is impossible?

Have you thought about what that might mean?”

The Corinthians’ logic:

They said: “Resurrection doesn’t happen.”

Paul says: “Then Christ hasn’t been raised.”

Which means: “Your faith is in vain”

So in verse 13 he starts exploring the implications of their belief.

Verse 13: “But if there is no resurrection from the dead” - as you claim to believe - “then not even Christ has been raised.”

That’s fairly self-evident.

Verse 14 is where it starts to mean something concrete: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain” — more on that in a bit — “then out preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

Why is my faith in vain?

If Christ has not been raised...

Then I am believing in someone who isn’t real

Which means: My faith has no value

Why?

Because the Christian faith is faith in a person who not only was crucified but risen from the dead.

But if Jesus merely died and stayed dead, I’m believing in someone who is not real.

I’m worshiping a false Messiah.

Because you seem, faith is only as good as its object.

Your faith is only as valuable as the thing or person your faith is in.

Faith in nothing - faith in faith - is worthless.

What is “vain” faith?

“Worthless” (CEV)

“Empty” (NKJV)

“Useless” (NIV)

If Christ is not risen, our faith is of no value

If Jesus hasn’t risen, your faith is of no value.

My preaching is of no value, because I preach that Christ Jesus who died also was raised on the third day.

If Jesus isn’t risen, the fact that you’re sitting here listening to it is a waste of time.

If Jesus isn’t risen, it’s better to literally renounce your faith altogether, right here and right now.

The resurrection is what all of this hinges on.

If it didn’t happen, none of it can be true.

So why are we here?

Let’s just turn out the lights and go eat our Easter lunch.

Which, actually, also has no meaning - if Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead.

But it’s gets better.

Or shall we say it gets worse?

#2: If the resurrection never happened, you have been lying about God

Look at verse 15: “We are even found - found out, caught - misrepresenting God.”

Have you ever been caught in the act, found out, doing something you weren’t supposed to do?

I was once.

When I was 16, I skipped school one day.

How many of you in the room are 16?

Do as I say, not as I do!

My friends and I were having an early breakfast at McDonald’s and my friend Josh said, “Let’s skip.”

Okay.

And do what?

“Go somewhere.”

Okay.

go where?

“Let’s go to Boone.”

So we went.

Boone is about an hour from my high school in Morganton.