EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION
EXHIBIT A: THE CHURCH (PART 2)
I Corinthians 15:1-2
Several years ago, a man named John was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. As a result of his condition, his complexion was pale, his body was weak, he was unable to breathe without an oxygen tank, and he could not walk without assistance. As time went on, John’s condition grew progressively worse, and his only hope of survival was to receive a heart transplant. When it seemed that the end was imminent, he received a call that changed his life dramatically. A young man had died in a car accident and John was to receive his heart.
Immediately after the transplant, John’s condition improved significantly. His color returned, his body grew stronger, and he no longer needed supplemental oxygen. Today he is happy, healthy and has even participated in a triathlon. John says that he cannot put into words how humbling it is to know that in order for him to live, someone else had to die.
The members of the Church at Corinth experienced a transformation that was even more impressive than John’s. The change that took place in their lives was not physical, it was spiritual. For this to happen, someone had to die. Though they were vile, wretched sinners, the sinless Son of God willingly died physically to that they could live eternally. The same is true for us!
All who have received salvation through Jesus Christ are living proof that He is alive and working in the hearts and lives of His people all over the world. Though multitudes of people deny His deity and scoff at the biblical teaching that He rose from the grave, the visible transformation that is seen in the lives of Christ’s followers is proof that Jesus did rise, and He lives forevermore. Because He lives, those who belong to Him are assured of their own physical resurrection one day.
In our study of I Corinthians 15, we are examining several different facts that serve as “Evidence For The Resurrection”. When we last assembled we began to consider the fact that Church serves as “Exhibit A” in Paul’s defense of the resurrection. I would like to pick up where we left off last time and continue to examine:
Exhibit A: The Church
- In part one of this message we saw that:
The Church Is Comprised Of
People Who Have Heard The Gospel
The Christians in Corinth, the Saints throughout the ages, and those of us who are followers of Christ today are able to be a part of Christ’s Church because we have heard the gospel. The ability to hear the gospel is a testament to the amazing grace of God. He sent Paul to Corinth to share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Likewise, God sent certain people into our lives who were faithful to share this same good news with us.
- While hearing the gospel is essential, simply hearing is not enough. We have also seen in these verses that:
THE CHURCH IS COMPRISED OF
PEOPLE WHO HAVE SURRENDERED TO CHRIST
While hearing the gospel is necessary, becoming a member of Christ’s Church requires us to respond accordingly to what we have heard. The Christians at Corinth were willing to repent and believe in Christ and they were saved as a result.
Untold millions of people in the word today have heard the gospel message and refuse to accept it. In order to live with assurance of your position in Christ, you must go beyond hearing the gospel and “receive” it. You must believe the gospel to the point of putting your faith in Christ for salvation.
- When one responds to the gospel by surrendering to Jesus as Lord, there will be an inevitable transformation that occurs in their life. This leads us to the third truth that I would like to consider about the Church. Notice:
THE CHURCH IS COMPRISED OF PEOPLE
WHO HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED BY GOD
In order for us to comprehend the amazing change that Jesus had brought into the lives of His followers at Corinth, it is important for us to understand the culture of their day and to see exactly what they had been delivered from.
Ancient Corinth had been completely destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. The city was rebuilt a century later (possibly under the direction of Julius Caesar). The new city was a Roman colony, and it is estimated that by Paul’s time there were several hundred thousand people living in this area. The population was predominantly Roman but there were also large numbers of Greeks, Orientals and at least enough Jews to justify having a local synagogue.
Both the old city and the new Roman colony were known for their shameless and detestable sexual immorality. The most prominent site in this region was the Acrocorinth, (this is a word that means “high city”). This was a near 2,000 ft high granite mound that served as a strategic place of defense, and it also housed the temple of Aphrodite. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty. It is believed that prior to Corinth’s fall to the Romans, this temple housed over a thousand so called “priestesses” who would be better described as temple prostitutes. These women would perform sexual favors in order to gather funds to give to Aphrodite. Whether or not this practice continued in temple of rebuilt Corinth is unknown; but what is indisputable is that the gross sexual immorality in Corinth continued as before. So much so that the secular culture was reflected within the Church at Corinth. This brought about one of the major rebukes from Paul that is contained within this Epistle.
Another problem that plagued Corinth was idolatry. The temple dedicated to Aphrodite was only one of many. The worship of various idols was quite popular among the residents of the city. Furthermore, these pagan temples were a major economic factor in Corinth, especially due to the ritual animal sacrifices. Some of the meat was obviously consumed during the sacrifice, some of it was consumed by the priests, and some of it was sold in the local meat markets.
Writing about the wicked culture in Corinth, John MacArthur says “Even to the pagan world the city was known for its moral corruption, so much so that in classical Greek corinthiazesthai (“to behave like a Corinthian”) came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery. The name of the city became synonymous with moral depravity. In this letter to the church there, Paul lists some of the city’s characteristic sins—fornication (porneia, from which comes our term pornography), idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, stealing, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling (abusive speech), and swindling. {MacArthur New Testament Commentary; 2 Corinthians}
The Corinthians had “heard” and “received” the gospel that Paul preached to them. When they surrendered to the Lord, He brought about an amazing change in their lives. Back in Chapter 6, Paul wrote about the change that the Corinthians had experienced. He said, “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
The work that God did in the lives of the Corinthians is the same work that He has performed in all who belong to Him. If you are a Christian it is because you heard the Gospel and responded accordingly. That is, you received it and believed it to the point of putting your faith in Jesus Christ. This is evidenced by the transformation that Jesus has wrought in your life. Like the Corinthians, we all have a past. But we can rest and rejoice in the fact that we have been “washed”, we have been “sanctified”, and we have been “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The transformation of the Corinthians and all Christians throughout the ages serves as proof that we serve a risen and living Savior. There are people in this very assembly who have been delivered from each and every transgression that Paul listed in Chapter 6. This change was not something that came as a result of human effort, rather it was supernatural work that can only be attributed to the Lord Jesus.
We all know people who do possess a certain amount of willpower and have had some success in turning away from various sins, beating addiction and “cleaning their lives up” so to speak. However, in order for their to be a true spiritual and eternal change, Jesus HAS to be involved.
Moreover, there are a great many people who have professed to believe and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and then turned away. For a time they followed Him faithfully and it seemed as if they had experienced genuine salvation. However, over time they drifted back into the sins that had plagued them in the past and now they no longer follow Him at all. Such people are not (and never were) truly a part of Christ’s Church.
- This leads us to the final truth I would like to consider about the Church. Notice that:
THE CHURCH IS COMPRISED OF PEOPLE
WHO STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH
v1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
The fact that the Church Universal has endured for two millennia serves as proof of the power of Christ and the authenticity of His resurrection. In the same way, every genuine Christian that endures the troubles, struggles and temptations of this life, serves as vibrant evidence that our Savior lives. The only way that we can live lives that bring honor and glory to God is because of the continued, ever-present work of our Savior in our lives.
On the surface, when you read Paul’s qualifying phrase “if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain” one may think that it is implied that a Chrisitan is in some danger of losing his or her salvation. That is not the meaning of this verse at all. Rather, it is a warning against non-saving faith.
Though they were immersed in a culture of debauchery, the Corinthians had held fast to the gospel that they had received. Though he offers many rebukes in this Epistle, Paul commends the Saints for their steadfastness in 1 Corinthians 11:2, there he says, “I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
The Corinthians’ steadfast devotion to the gospel and the Christian traditions they had received served as evidence of the genuineness of their conversion. Their spiritual transformation was great evidence of the resurrection and the power of Jesus. Likewise, their endurance in the faith was great proof as well. The only reason they were able to endure is because of the power of Christ that dwelt within them.
The same is true for us, we are saved by the power of God and our only hope of remaining in Christ is because we are kept by His matchless power. That is not to say that we do not have a personal responsibility to remain steadfast. Again to quote MacArthur, “Our holding onto Him is evidence that He is holding onto us.”
There are multitudes of people who made a profession of faith in the past. They began to observe the teachings of Christ, they had a genuine interest in the things of God, and there was a visible change in their life. Such a change was made that others around them were convinced that their conversion was authentic. Then (for one reason or another) they turned away and rejected Christ and the things of God. That person did not lose their salvation, they never possessed it to begin with. Like the false teachers that the Apostle John wrote about in 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us”. Such people have a belief in Christ, but it is not saving faith. James said in his Epistle, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19)
The lives of those who are truly redeemed will exhibit steadfast obedience and faithfulness. The genuine converts at Corinth continued in the faith when others turned away. This Epistle makes it clear that they dealt with spiritual immaturity and had many areas in their lives and church that needed to be addressed, but the fact that they endured served as vivid proof of the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The transformation that occurred in these former fornicators, homosexuals, liars, idolaters, drunkards, and swindlers could not have happened apart from the supernatural power of Jesus Christ. The change that has been wrought in the lives of the people who comprise Stockdale Baptist Church happened the exact same way and we are a testament to the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus.
From the day that the empty tomb was discovered, unbelievers have proclaimed that the resurrection is hoax. Many are of the opinion that the evidence concerning the resurrection was fabricated by Christ’s followers. However, those critics who deny the resurrection cannot explain why those who have professed to follow Christ (beginning with the Apostles and continuing until today) have experienced such a visible and enduring transformation. The change that Jesus brings into the lives of His people is so real that they are willing to endure persecution, suffering, and even martyrdom.
Throughout Church history, Christians have endured great opposition and persecution because of their faith in Christ. Genuine Christians will be willing to suffer (even to the point of death) because of their convictions and faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For this reason, the Church stands as solid evidence in defense of the resurrection.
I pray that you are part of Christ’s Church. If so then you are one who has heard the Gospel, you have surrendered to Christ, you have been transformed by God, and you will remain steadfast in your faith. Maybe you are not a follower of Christ. Perhaps you have some doubts, and you are looking for “Evidence Of The Resurrection”. If so, I refer you to “Exhibit A: The Church”.
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