1 Corinthians 15_12-19 What difference does easter make
What Difference Does Easter Make?
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
I came across a fascinating list of questions that all have the same answer. Can you guess what it is?
What gives a widow courage as she stands beside a fresh grave?
What is the ultimate hope of the cripple, the amputee, the abused or the burn victim?
How can parents of a brain-damaged or physically handicapped child keep from living their entire lives totally and completely depressed?
Why would anyone who is blind or deaf or paralyzed be encouraged when he or she thinks of the life beyond?
Where do the thoughts of a young couple go when they finally recover from the grief of losing their baby?
When a family receives the tragic news that a little daughter was found dead or the dad was killed in a plane crash or the son over dosed on drugs, what single truth becomes its whole focus?
What is the final answer to pain, mourning, senility, insanity, terminal diseases, sudden calamities and fatal accidents?
The answer to each of these questions is: The hope God gives us because of the bodily resurrection Jesus Christ offers to all who believe in Him.
The reality is, Christianity hinges on the Resurrection. If Christ is who He claimed to be, and He didn’t come back form the dead, then as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:16-18, our faith is worthless and “we are of all men most to be pitied”
Let’s read 1 Cor. 15:12-19 together.
Paul mentions 3 results of Easter.
1. It makes a difference in Preaching. (12-14)
It made a difference to Peter.
Before the resurrection: Matthew 26:69-75
After the Resurrection: Acts 2:14, 22, 36-37
2. It makes a difference in our Power. (15)
A. Power to Witness (Acts 1:8)
1. Who you are
2. What you do.
B. Power to Save (Romans 1:16)
Reason’s for God’s wrath:
1. Man’s Rejection (21)
2. Man’s Rationalization (22)
3. Man’s Religion (23)
A little boy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon. Suddenly out of nowhere a bumblebee flew in the car window. Since the little boy was deathly allergic to bee stings, he became petrified. But the father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. But as soon as he let it go, the young son became frantic once again as it buzzed by the little boy. His father saw his panic‑stricken face. Once again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his hand. There still stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he said. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you." And this is the message of Easter.
3. It makes a difference to the Promises of our Lord (16-19)
A. He promised His resurrection (John 2:19-22)
The Easter Bunny never rose again.
It’s Friday...Jesus is beaten with a stick
It’s Friday...Jesus is mocked and spit upon
It’s Friday...They strip him naked and play games with him.
It’s Friday... But Sunday’s coming.
It’s Friday...they whip him with a cat of nine tails
It’s Friday...they pull out his beard
It’s Friday...slap him in the face
It’s Friday... But Sunday’s coming.
It’s Friday...they jokingly call him King
It’s Friday...they quote scripture to him
It’s Friday...they accuse him of lying
It’s Friday... But Sunday’s coming
It’s Friday...they place the cross on his back
It’s Friday...lead him to Golgotha, the place of the skull
It’s Friday...they knock him down one more time
It’s Friday... But Sunday’s coming
It’s Friday...They drove nails deep in his feet and hands
It’s Friday...They place a crown of thorns on his head
It’s Friday...they lift him high into the air on a cross and drop him in the hole
It’s Friday...But Sunday’s coming
It’s Friday...God the Father turns His head.
It’s Friday...Jesus cries out “My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me.
It’s Friday...Jesus pulls himself up on the nails to get one last breath and he says. “It is finished.”
What difference does Easter make? It’s Friday...But Sunday’s coming.
B. He promised His Return (John 14:1-3)