Themes of the Bible: Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15)

 

Themes of the Bible: Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15)

Okay, I don't know if you know this, but the chapter I had you read this week, 1 Corinthians 15 is the single greatest chapter in the Bible covering the topic of resurrection. Last week, we left Jesus in the tomb, we had the thief on the cross in Luke 23, and this week, we're seeing his resurrection, and we’re doing that with the most profound chapter in scripture on resurrection. Last week, I mentioned to you that all of us are theologians in the sense that all of us have a theology, we all have something that we believe about God. And if you remember, I stressed that one of the things that I’m desperate to do at this church is to make sure that our theology as believers is a biblically based theology. People base their theology on all kinds of things, and shifting sands and we want to make sure that what we believe about God is what He has revealed to us about Himself in His Word, and not some other philosophy that man has taught on top of that. Well, this chapter, 1 Corinthians 15 is the cornerstone of Christian biblical theology. So, let me drop a bomb on you. If you don't know this, the Christian faith is not primarily based on the teachings of Jesus. The Christian faith is not primarily based on the life of Jesus or the miracles of Jesus. It's not based on the compassion of Jesus. And in fact, the Christian faith is not ultimately based on the death of Jesus. Because if that’s all that happened, it’s not enough. What the Christian faith is ultimately based on is how all of these things culminate and find meaning in the resurrection.

To shift directions, have you ever played Jenga? It’s that tower thing that you build, and you have to pull the pieces out of it? It's funny to watch people play because some people are super meticulous and they're careful about what they're going to pull out. Then others are like a bull in a china shop. So, let's use that as an analogy. In the Christian faith, if you took out the doctrine of communion, or you took out the doctrine of prayer, or the doctrine of good works, or you took out the doctrine of generosity, if you start pulling all these pieces out of Christianity, what you're going to create is a very wobbly structure, that if the winds of culture and the influence of man and the problems and the sorrows of life hits that, the whole thing can topple over. That's why you want to have a firm foundation for all of those things. Where does the resurrection fit in? It's not even one of those base pieces. The resurrection is the table that is holding the Janga board and if you take that table away, the whole thing, it doesn't matter if you keep all the pieces in place. It's just going to go splat on the ground. The resurrection is permanent foundation, and without it that's what happens to your Christian faith. The resurrection is mentioned 104 times in the New Testament. When Judas betrays Jesus and then he goes and hangs himself. The disciples replace him with Mathias, but as they go through and try to figure out the criteria for selecting a new apostle, what they said was the primary criteria was that one must ‘be a witness with us of His resurrection.’ This has to be someone that witnessed the resurrection. When Peter gives his first sermon at the birth the church on the day of Pentecost, the total focus of his message is that God raised Jesus from the dead. God raised Jesus to life and we're witnesses of this. When Paul goes and speaks to the Greeks on Mars Hill in his Acts 17 sermon, what is the foundation of his message? Its resurrection. When the disciples are arrested and they're in prison for teaching what? The resurrection. Eventually they'll be killed for preaching the resurrection. The common theme here, this core belief in the resurrection is a central requirement of Christianity. You cannot be a Christian if you do not profess the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. . .”

It is a critically necessary, necessary component in the obedience of the gospel to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. And that's why Paul, in this passage, provides three pieces of overwhelming evidence that the resurrection occurred: The explosion of the church, the testimony of the Old Testament, and the vast number of witnesses who saw the resurrected Jesus. Let’s look at each of these real quick. First, the explosion of the church. This is a reason that we can have confidence in the resurrection. Why? Well, I don't know if you're aware of this. You may not be and that's the point. There were dozens of Messianic movements that happen before, during and after Jesus is coming. They're happening all around, but you don't know about them, do you? Unless you're like a student of this era of history. Because all of those leaders would be killed. All of those Promised Messiahs would be killed and when they die, their movements died with them. And yet here in the very city, where all of these people have rejected Jesus, they see him healing sick and disabled people, raising Lazarus from the dead. But they choose not to believe when he's alive, then just weeks after he was killed in front of all of them in horrific fashion, these same people are flocking to join his movement. This wouldn’t make any sense unless something truly amazing happened. Unless they saw with their eyes, something they could not explain. Sort of like a dead guy up walking around, talking to people again, maybe even flying into heaven. That'll put confidence in your heart. That's what Paul's talking about.

Second, the testimony of the Old Testament. That's why he says in verse three, “according to the Scriptures, Jesus has been raised.” Where have we been for these last several months? Page after page of the Old Testament. While looking at Abraham, when he's called 1000s of years before Jesus shows up, and it is painting a picture of the coming Messiah. Jesus fulfills every page of the Old Testament. You see in all these pages, all of the law, all of the festivals and the feasts, all of these things that are taking place, they are all begging for fulfillment, and it happens in Christ according to the Scriptures.

He has been raised and then maybe the most obvious of all, the vast number of witnesses. Paul mentions here that the disciples saw him, but so did 500 of the brothers. 500 of the brothers, which doesn't include all of the brother’s families. So, you have upwards of 1000 people that witnessed this. And Paul says that most of them are still alive. Now, unfortunately, they're all dead. So, you're just going to have to take my word for it. But Paul's saying that they're still alive at the time of his writing. ‘You don't believe me? Go ask them yourself.’

Why are they flocking to this movement? Because they saw the resurrected Jesus, and Paul gives these three pieces of evidence. So, I'm sitting here reading this, and I'm saying, ‘why in the world are you providing this info?’ Why provide this to the church in Corinth? They’re a church, right? I mean, I guess it's good that you all hear the evidence for the resurrection, but I'm assuming most of you would not be here if you do not believe in the resurrection. So why in the world be in a church if you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Why is he having to write this to the Corinthians? Well, that isn't the problem. If you're trying to figure out why is he trying to convince the Corinthians that Jesus rose from the dead, you're going to struggle with that because that's not what he's doing here. Look specifically at verse 11. Chapter 15, verse 11, [Read 1 Corinthians 15:11]. Paul is acknowledging that they believe in the resurrection of Jesus, so that isn't the issue here. They believe that Jesus was resurrected, so why write all this then? Why is he giving us this chapter? We'll keep reading verses 12 and 13 and he'll tell you why. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-13]. So, what is the issue that he's bringing up? The Corinthian Christians didn't deny Jesus's resurrection. They denied our resurrection. They had come to believe that there would be no resurrection of the dead. Jesus may have been raised, but that doesn't carry over to the rest of us. Now, why go back to last week when I said to you, that there's a question that every human being, regardless of what we say we believe, every human being is going to ask. What's next? What happens after this life? Even Job asked it amidst all of his suffering? If someone dies, will they live again? Human beings want to know the answer. We feel like there has to be more to life than just this. So, since every person is going to ask it, there's going to be a multitude of answers that are given to this and they're everywhere.

Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “I don't see any evidence that there be something on the other side. So, I'm not going to believe it.” Then you have the Universalist that says that heaven is awaiting all of us. ‘There is a better day and there's a new life and we're going to live it on the other side.’ You've got the New Age and the eastern idea of reincarnation, that if you're really good in this life, you come back as something even better in the next life, and if you're bad in this life, you come back as like a lampshade. So that's something to look forward to. . . There's a ton of answers to this question because there's a ton of people that ask this question. Well, mankind knows and has always known that there is something more, and that's why mankind is always seeking answers to this question.

There are millions of answers to that question then because people struggled with it. And that is what has happened to some of these Corinthian Christians. They've been listening to the answers that are being given all around them, and some of them have been persuaded. Maybe they were persuaded by the Greeks, with their various philosophies. The Stoics, the Hedonists, the Epicureans. The Greeks said, ‘Man, you wouldn't want a bodily resurrection. That would be terrible. You don't want this old body to come back.’ Maybe they believed the Sadducees who taught that resurrection isn't real. I don't know who it was that they were listening to and what they were believing, but I know that the apostle Paul is ticked and he's going to drop the bomb. Look at verses 33 and 34. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:33-34]. You are listening to people who are ignorant of God, my question Christians, is he talking to you and me? How many of us shape our beliefs based off of what people who have no knowledge of God are telling us? ‘Well, my college professor said. . .’ Right, your college professor doesn't even know God said something about him. Why would you believe that as truth? If he's beginning in the wrong spot, what are the chances he's going to end up in the right place? So, Paul sets things straight. He says number one, the resurrection of Jesus proves the principle of resurrection. And number two, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus, that you proclaim is alive, is still dead. Look at verses 14 through 19. This is where he's going to lay out the answer to the question. What if you're right, Corinthians, what if there is no resurrection of the dead? Where does that leave us? [Read 1 Corinthians 15:14-19].  

All right, so there's just a barrage of things that happen if you're right about the resurrection of the dead. If Christ has not been risen, then our preaching is useless. We are wasting our time and everyone else's time. If Christ is not risen, then we are all liars. We're awful people telling them things that aren't true. If Christ isn't risen, then we are all still covered in our sins and it's not difficult to figure out why, but let's spell it out. If there's no resurrection, then Jesus is still dead. And if Jesus is still dead, that's because death had power over him, and death defeated him. And if death has defeated Jesus and holds power over him, then guess what, he isn't God. And if he isn't God, then he can offer you and me absolutely no escape or salvation from our problem. That's what happens if Jesus is still in the grave. If Christ isn't risen. All of those believers that have gone on before, your family members that you are counting on seeing again, they are gone forever, and you will never again come into contact with them. If Christ isn't risen, we believers are to be pitied more than anybody else. And I look at this and I say, but why? Why should I be pity? I mean, I'm in the same boat as the non-believer. So why am I to be pitied more?

Since believers live lives for the Lord, and we deprive ourselves of carnal pleasures that the world loves to indulge in, we dedicate our lives to service, we invest our money in ministries, and it's the promise of salvation that makes doing that worth it. Sometimes knowing Jesus brings hardship in our life. There's a reason Jesus said, ‘take up your cross and follow Me.’ That isn't always pleasant. There's a reason he said ‘men will hate you because of me.’ It's not always pleasant. So, look at what Paul says in verses 30-32. He speaks specifically of himself. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:30-32]. So, why are we as Christians putting ourselves through this if there is no resurrection? The worldly man is going to squeeze every ounce of pleasure out of this life that he can get because that's all there is. This is it. And so he'll do it. He'll stick it to other people to get whatever it is that he wants. That's what worldly man will do. Now that is foolish, if this isn't it, but if this life is all there is then, that's exceedingly wise and we're the idiots. That's what Paul is stressing to the Corinthians. That's why this chapter is so important. It's why it all comes down to the resurrection. The Divinity of Jesus depends upon His resurrection. The sovereignty of Jesus depends on his resurrection. Our justification before God depends on the resurrection, our own resurrection depends on Christ's resurrection. So that answers the question, and it's a lot of bad news. What if the Corinthian Christians are right and there is no resurrection? All that stuff? And then after saying all of that, Paul gives us verse 20. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:20]. 

So, because of that, because we know he's been raised from the dead then in fact, Christian doctrine is true. Verses 20 and 21. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-21]. He is the first fruits. That means if you’ve got a harvest, the first things that are ripe and ready to harvest, it is taken and it's sacrificed to the Lord. It's the first fruits and it's the promise of what is coming next. This is that Old Testament shadow thing again, that we've talked about. That the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Every page of Scripture that confuses us in the Old Testament is pointing towards the new, and that's what this is. They had this first-fruits offering and they take the very first thing from the crop and they sacrifice it to God. The best is offered first to God, trusting that more harvest is coming. Do you not see the shadow that is fulfilled in Jesus? The sacrifice of Christ was offered first to God and it is the promise of the big harvest that is coming. And you know who's part of that big harvest? Us. Our resurrection is coming. Look at verses 35 to 38. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:35-38]. 

So, the thing that you're putting in the ground isn't going to look like what comes out of the ground. Just like the seed doesn't look like the tree. We're getting a new body. And here are the four things that we're told about our upcoming body and get ready for this. Number one, it is incorruptible, it never dies. It never decays, and it never tires. Think back to the greatest day that you had here on planet Earth, the greatest moment if you could relive it over and over. Now, the problem came in that we eventually got tired and had to go to sleep. And eventually it was over, and we moved on from there. That's what we're being promised here. It never gets old. You never tired. Secondly, we know it's a glorified body. It's not an earthly body. It's a body we can't even imagine. And I can imagine a lot of stuff, and this is greater than what I can imagine. We know that it is capable of doing things that as human beings we can't even fathom what this body will be able to do. And it is spiritual. Look at verse 49. Verse 49, gives the best description of this. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:49]. We look like Adam, right? So, shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. And who is that? That would be Jesus. This has been a contrast that Paul's laying out between Adam and Jesus, and we will have a body like that of Jesus post-resurrection. Do you remember the body of Jesus post-resurrection? He walked through doors. He flew through clouds. Jesus enjoyed the benefits of physical life. He ate with His disciples, but he didn't need it to sustain his body. It wasn't necessary. He's eating for pleasure. So, you're going to be able to enjoy all the food you want and your cholesterol is going nowhere. Your weight is going nowhere. And we haven't even conceived of the kind of food that God has waiting for us.

That is why this promise means everything to me. Because I know that my Christian friends and family who died, who suffered, their minds are no longer tormented. Their broken-down body is stronger and more powerful than any of us could ever imagine. And they’re anything but lonely. They’re surrounded by the testimony of the saints, and walking down the heavenly street with Moses and with King David and talking to those people that have gone on before. That promise means everything to me.

Let's finish it in verses 54 and 55. The final note of triumph in this passage, [Read 1 Corinthians 15:54-55].  What an ultimate talk that is. Who do you think you are death? You've been conquered!

I’ve probably told this parable before: There’s a dad who’s driving in his pickup truck with his son. And a bee flies in the cab of the truck. And the son is allergic to bee stings. And he's scared to death that he's going to get stung and the bees zipping around all over the place and the son is panicking and the dad reaches out as he's driving and snags the bee in his hand. And he holds it for a second, his son starts to calm down and slowly his dad opens his hand and the bee flies out, now even more angry than he was before. The kid is shocked, he yells, ‘why did you do that Daddy? It's going to sting me!’ And the dad keeps saying, ‘no, son, he's not going to sting you. He's not going to sting you.’ The kid says, ‘how do you know he's not going to?’ And the dad opens up his hand and shows him the slight swelling and says, ‘because I've got the stinger right here. He stung me and now he can do nothing to you.’

One of the things that I've always wondered is why the glorified resurrected body of Jesus still had those scars. Why is it that the disciples were able to see those wounds on this powerful spiritual glorified body and actually touched those wounds? Why does the book of Revelation say he looks like (Revelation 5:6) a lamb that’s been slain? I don't know. But I guess I'm of the belief that it's so that throughout eternity we will never forget. He took the stinger and it can't touch us anymore. “. . .He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Let’s pray.