SERMON OUTLINE:
Proved by the message of the Gospel (vs 1)
Proved by his testimony (vs 5-9)
Proved by scripture (vs 3b-5)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola have always battled to be the world’s best-selling drink:
• But in two countries were they have failed;
• In Peru they are outsold by ‘Inca-Cola’,
• And in Scotland ‘Irn-Bru’ continues to be more popular.
• When they both tried to conquer the Chinese market,
• Both companies encountered problems with translation:
(a).
• Coca-Cola (Ke-Kou-Ke-La ) translated as “Bite the wax tadpole”
• So they experts got busy and they researched the 40,000 Chinese characters;
• They managed to find a close match.
• Ko-Kou-Ko-Le;
• Which translates as “Happiness in the mouth”.
(b).
• When I was growing up as a kid Pepsi-Cola had a very famous catch phrase;
• Which was “Come alive with Pepsi”
• Unfortunately when translated into Chinese it read
• “Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life”.
Well what Coca & Pepsi cannot do, Christians believe God can and has and will do!
• The Christian hope is not just salvation for the spirit,
• Like Jesus the Bible teaches we too shall have a physical resurrection!
• God will resurrect our bodies and unite it with our spirits;
• Never forget salvation will be a full & complete process!
Ill:
• In the Bible;
• There are a number of accounts of People Raised miraculously from the Dead;
• Let me emphasises the word ‘miraculous’ – it required the power of God almighty!
• A few quick examples.
• i.e. Elijah raised the son of the Zarephath widow from the dead (1 Kings 17:17-22).
• i.e. Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman from the dead (2 Kings 4:32-35).
• i.e. A man was raised from the dead when his body touched Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 13:20, 21).
• In the New Testament Jesus spoiled every good funeral he ever went to;
• He kept ‘interfering’ and bringing the dead person back to life!
• i.e. Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (Luke 7:11-15).
• i.e. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-55).
• i.e. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44).
• In our recent studies in the book of Acts (History book of the early Church);
• We studied the apostle Peter who raised Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:36-41).
• And we will study Eutychus who was raised from the dead by apostle Paul (Acts 20:9, 10).
Ill:
• We live in a world dominated by new life and death:
• Birth Rate/Death Rate:
• (According to The World Factbook (CIA)
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html)
• 131.4 million births per year
• 55.3 million people who die each year
• 360,000 births per day
• 151,600 people die each day
• 15,000 births each hour
• 6,316 people die each hour
• 250 births each minute
• 105 people die each minute
• 4 births each second of every day
• Almost 2 people die each second
We live in a world that constantly is experiencing both death and new life:
• And different people and different cultures;
• Have a variety of beliefs regarding death and the after-life.
• This letter (1 Corinthians) was written to the Church at Corinth;
• To people who were Greek.
• To people who had been influenced all their lives by Greek culture and philosophies ;
• Regarding death and resurrection.
Ill:
• In his book ‘Fan The Flame’ by J. Stowell;
• He tells of when he was in West Africa - Timbuktu to be exact.
• He met some missionaries and they were telling him;
• That in that culture the larger the women were the more beautiful they were thought to be.
• In fact, a young missionary who had a small, trim wife;
• Said that the nationals had told him she was a bad reflection on him
• And he obviously was not providing well enough for her.
• A proverb in that part of Africa says that;
• “If your wife is on a camel and the camel cannot stand up, your wife is truly beautiful”.
TRANSITION:
• When the apostle Paul went to Corinth, Greece;
• He discovered that they too had some very different ideas regarding life and death;
• Ideas that were very different to that of the Jewish faith;
• And therefore very different from the Christian faith;
• Which is rooted in Judaism;
• And therefore we share a common understanding on many issues.
Ill:
• The Jews thought of the ‘Soul’ as a breathing body;
• The body and soul were one like Siamese twins.
• The signal ‘SOS’ (‘save our souls’) actually comes from Jewish/Hebrew thinking;
• It really means ‘save our bodies’, even though the word ‘soul’ is used instead.
The Greeks believed the opposite to that:
• In Greek thinking the is a separation of the physical and the spiritual;
• To them the spiritual was important and the physical wasn’t.
• Greek philosophers taught that just like a prisoner is held captive by his prison cell,
• So the body was the prison of the soul and in death the soul was set free.
• In fact as a race of people, they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead,
• The Greeks believed and taught that when you were dead,
• The body remained dead!
Ill:
• When Paul preached the resurrection at Athens,
• Some of the people actually laughed at this doctrine (Acts chapter 17 verse 32).
• “When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt”
• In the same way I would struggle to persuade the people of Timbuktu, West Africa;
• That slim women were more beautiful than large women;
• So Paul was laughed at and mocked in Athens when he spoke of the resurrection.
• To the Greeks the human body was a source of weakness and wickedness:
• Because they viewed it this way,
• It made no sense at all to them to resurrect that body after death.
• ill: we discard a banana skin or orange peel;
• (after all it is worthless, it has served its purpose).
• It was this kind of thinking that Paul had to deal with when he wrote this chapter.
• So he teaches here important truths regarding the Christian and resurrection.
• Christ died and physically rose again from the dead and so will every Christian!
Ill:
• Max Lucado, in his book, “Six Hours One Friday,”
• Tells the story of a missionary in Brazil;
• Who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle.
• They lived near a large river.
• The tribe was in need of medical attention.
• A contagious disease was ravaging the population. People were dying daily.
• A hospital was not too terribly far away - just across the river,
• But the Indians would not cross it because they believed the river was inhabited by evil spirits.
• And to enter its water would mean certain death.
• The missionary explained how he had crossed the river & was unharmed.
• But they were not impressed.
• He then took them to the bank & placed his hand in the water.
• They still wouldn’t go in.
• He walked into the water up to his waist & splashed water on his face.
• It didn’t matter. They were still afraid to enter the river.
• Finally, he dived into the river,
• He swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side.
• There he raised a triumphant fist into the air.
• He had entered the water & escaped.
• It was then that the Indians broke into a cheer & followed him across.
• TRANSITION: Isn’t that what Jesus did?
• He entered the river of death & came out on the other side;
• So that we might no longer fear death, but find eternal life in Him.
3 THINGS TO NOTE:
• But also one of the great facts in history.
• And in these verses Paul gives us three proofs of resurrection:
(1). proved by the message of the Gospel (vs 1).
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand”.
• The word ‘gospel’ simply means ‘good news’;
• This ‘good news’ is amplified in verses 3b-4 where we are told two important truths.
“…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
TRUTH NO 1: “CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS”.
Ill:
• A church recently received personal greetings from the Kejave Medical Centre staff;
• Which is a mission hospital in Kenya.
• It contained the following story.
• Eight-year-old Monica fell into a pit,
• The fall broke her leg and she laid helplessly at the bottom of the pit unable to get out.
• An older woman, Mama Njeri,
• Happened to go along the same path;
• She saw the girl in distress and climbed into the pit to help get Monica out.
• In the process of helping Monica;
• A dangerous black Mamba snake bit both Mama Njeri and Monica.
• Monica was taken to Kejave Medical Centre and admitted.
• Mama Njeri went home, but never awoke from her sleep.
• The next day a nurse explained Mama Njeri's death to Monica,
• Telling her that the snake had bitten both of them,
• But all of the snake's poison was expended on Mama Njeri;
• She was alive because there was no poison left to infect Monica.
• TRANSITION: On the cross Jesus had taken the poison of sin;
• He would die willingly, so that we could live!
• The just for the unjust.
• The righteous for the unrighteous,
• The virtuous for the sinful.
• Remember Jesus did not die to make bad people good;
• He died to make dead people live!
• You and I who were dead in our trespasses and sins;
• Have been made alive in Christ!
Quote the old hymn by Horatio Spafford ‘It is well”.
“My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”
TRUTH NO 2: “HE WAS RAISED ON THE THIRD DAY”:
Ill:
• Dr. Seamands tells of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa.
• "Some of his friends asked him, 'Why have you become a Christian?'
• He answered, “Well, it’s like this.
• Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions,
• And you didn't know which way to go,
• And there at the fork in the road were two men,
• One dead and one alive - which one would you ask which way to go?'"
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is ESSENTIAL to the Christian faith:
• In this chapter (1 Corinthians 15:;
• The apostle Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ.
• And he gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection:
• (1). preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14);
• (2). faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14);
• (3). all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15);
• (4). no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17);
• (5). all former believers would have perished (v.18);
• (6). Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19).
• But Christ indeed has risen from the dead;
• He “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20),
• Assuring every Christian that will follow Him of a resurrection also.
Note:
• Becoming a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ is much more than a swapping of ideas:
• e.g. “Before I was a Christian I believed this, but now I am a Christian I believe that”.
• It is an encounter with the living Christ;
• It is letting him be Lord of your life, it is a message of new ownership:
• Before I ruled my life, but now the risen, living Jesus Christ does.
• ill: Sign in a shop window “Under new management”.
The new owner of every Christian is Jesus Christ:
• The one who physically died on a Roman cross.
• Who was buried physically in a grave.
• And who three days later physically rose from the dead!
• And forty days later physically ascended into heaven.
Paul argues his case for the resurrection by simply saying:
• The gospel message is all about a physical Christ,
• Who physically died, was physically buried and physically rose again.
• Therefore NOT to believe in resurrection means that you have believed in vain!
• i.e. It is like saying; “I believe in motorised transport”,
• But then you walk everywhere.
• i.e. It is like saying; “I believe in healthy eating”,
• But then you spend all your time eating junk food.
The apostle Paul’s reasoning is simple:
• If the dead do not rise;
• Then Jesus Christ is dead also!
• And that message/Gospel was not good news it was bad news– it was a lie!
• Therefore their faith was vain, and they were still in their sins!
• The Christian faith is good only if Jesus Christ conquered death;
• And because he lives we shall live also!
(2). Proved by his testimony (vs 5-9).
5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
• In these verses:
• The apostle Paul will use his own experience of Christ to prove the resurrection:
• Quote: “Dead men don’t change lives!”
Note:
• There are recorded in the New Testament 17 post resurrection appearances of Christ.
• To individuals, to groups of people, even a large crowd of over 500.
• These appearances were not just to those people ‘on his side’,
• The living Christ also appeared to his biggest enemy Saul of Tarsus!
We recently looked at Saul’s conversion in Acts chapter 9:
• But just in case you weren’t here – let me fill you in on some of the details:
• "Saul of Tarsus" was a hater of Christ & the scourge of Christianity.
• He was a deeply religious Jew;
• He was convinced Jesus of Nazareth was an imposter and was rightfully executed.
• When Christians started to preach that Jesus was alive;
• Saul made it his number one objective to disprove and destroy;
• Both the message and any follower of Jesus Christ.
• Then one day as he was persecuting and hunting out Christians;
• He had an encounter with the living Christ.
• An encounter that turned his life around!
• And Saul the persecutor became Paul the preacher.
Note:
• It is worth noting that the Bible gives a lot of space,
• Over to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
• Dr Luke records it in Acts chapter 9.
• Then twice Paul gives his testimony in Acts chapter 25.
• The narration of Saul's / Paul's conversion:
• Occupies more space in the Bible than any other story or event except the crucifixion.
Now once again Paul’s argument is simple:
• He met the physical Jesus Christ;
• And so have hundreds of others;
• Paul knew because of his persecution many were imprisoned or martyred for this belief
Ill:
• Still today people are claiming to have had their lives changed by the living Christ.
• ill: Youtube – Cardboard Testimonies.
(3). Proved by scripture (vs 3b-4).
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”
• The Old Testament not only had examples of people being raised from the dead;
• We mentioned some of them earlier on.
• But woven through it is the resurrection.
Ill:
Job chapter 19 verses 25-27 - Job could say:
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.
26 And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God
27 I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!
Ill:
Isaiah chapter 26 verse 19:
“But your dead will live, LORD;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.”
Ill:
Daniel chapter 12 verse 2:
“Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace”
• These promises in scripture are not referring to some vague "immortality of the soul,"
• As taught in pagan religions, but to resurrection of the body!
• That is the hope of the Christian.
Ill:
• In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph.
• He didn't profess to be a born-again Christian,
• But it seems he must have been influenced by;
• Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here's what he wrote:
“The Body of B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book Its contents torn out,
And script of its Lettering and gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms,
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believed,
Appear once more in a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended by the Author.”
Easter is a reminder that death is not the end for the Christian:
• Because he lives – we also will live!
• Question: Do you have that hope?
Quote D.L. Moody:
"Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now".
