DON’T EVER FORGET THIS
Text: I Corinthians 15:1 -11
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, (2) through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. (3) For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, (4) and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, (5) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (6) Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. (7) Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. (8) Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (9) For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (10) But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (11) Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe (NRSV).
History tells us about many great men who were ahead of their time as pioneers in the days when they lived. Among them was Sir Michael Faraday (Sept. 22, 1791 - August 25, 1867). Faraday was known and famous for his discoveries in the field electricity that paved the way for “modern electric motor(s), generator(s), and transformer(s)”. It is said that “Albert Einstein was known to have had a portrait of Faraday on his wall in his study, where it hung alongside pictures of legendary physicists Sir Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell”. [https://www.thoughtco.com/michael-faraday-inventor-4059933. Aside from his accomplishments, it is worth noting that Faraday was a Christian who believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
“When that great and Christian scientist Sir Michael Faraday of was dying, some journalists questioned him as to his speculations for a life after death. “Speculations!” said he, “ I know nothing about speculations. I’m resting certainties. ‘I know that my redeemer liveth,’ and because He lives, I shall live also.” (Roy. B. Zuck. The Speaker’s Quote Book. 1997, p. 327). Faraday knew that every good and perfect gift especially the gift of eternal life comes from God (James 1:17). Do we stand with Faraday and the Apostle Paul believing in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?
We have all had success and failures in life. Yet, without Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior none of it will matter. What will our legacy be? What was the legacy of the disciples and their witness? What will others say about our faith in Jesus Christ?
OUR IDENTITY
When we breathe our last breathe will we declare to others that we are Christians?
1) Legacy of belief: We might not be famous and have inventions that we will be known for but we will all have a legacy that will live on after us. “Thomas Paine [author of Common Sense pamphlet] was called the god of “modern skeptics.” He was idolized by infidels even though by all standards of decency he was little more than a drunkard and a thief. Yet on his deathbed, he begged the Savior for mercy. Apparently in the final moments, atheists cannot resist the light of conscience and the sense of eternity that God has instilled within them”. (Roy. B. Zuck. The Speaker’s Quote Book. 1997, p. 22). Does he remind you of anyone in the Easter story? Does he remind reminds you of the repentant thief that crucified beside Jesus?
2) Homing device in the heart: I recently read where John Wesley once wrote that he believed that a man could be saved between falling off a horse and hitting the ground. Like it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, God has placed eternity in our hearts. God is not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
3) Who do we resemble Faraday or Paine?: It is God’s will that we will come to the conclusion of the gift of eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ with the faith and assurance like that of Michael Faraday, rather than the fear and uncertainty of Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 – June 8, 1809).
Aren’t we the Easter People?
1) The promise: In a way, that is what the Apostle Paul asked the people of Corinth in I Corinthians 15:12: “So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say “There’s no resurrection of the dead? ” (CEB).
2) Incomplete: How can someone believe some of the Christian message without accepting the whole Gospel that says that Jesus Christ was resurrected---raised from the dead? Paul said that he was “ … confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 NRSV). Ephesians 1:9-10 tell us that The Lord ” … has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, (10) as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (NRSV). Without Jesus Christ we are incomplete!
OUR WITNESS
Is our identity a part of our witness? The answer to that question is an emphatic “yes”! Why? The reason why is because how we identify ourselves determines ho we witness! One theologian [Calvin Miller] seems to give an answer to that question this way: he says we either come like humble children for such is the kingdom of God or we come with [blind] arrogance. “… the cross finds fertile socket in those who raise it in honor. It is virtually ignored by those who arrogantly feel themselves intellectually mature.” (Calvin Miller. Once Upon A Tree. Louisanna: Howard Publishing Co., 2002, p. 28). Elsewhere in the New Testament I the words of Paul who also wrote I and II Corinthians, the Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:9 -11: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (ESV). Will we exalt Jesus in shame because we rejected Him or praise because He is our Lord and Savior?
Consider the list of witnesses that Paul offers to us in today’s text.
He appeared to Cephas [aka Peter] , then to the Twelve [including Matthias who took Judas’ Iscariot’s place], 6 and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, [the Lord’s brother who didn’t believe that Jesus was who who said He was until after the resurrection, John 7:5, Luke 24:50] then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time. 9 (ESV).
Why would eleven of the original disciples put their lives on the line for a lie? We know that Judas the twelfth disciple hung himself after he wanted to renege on betraying Jesus by giving the 31 pieces of silver back. Yet, the religious authorities refused to take it back because it was blood money. William Barclay once speculated the Judas betrayed Jesus to try to force his hand to be a militant Messiah which was not God’s plan.
Review: How did the 12 disciples die? (from various reports from the internet listed as 1, 2 & 3 below).
(1) The Apostle James … Acts 12:2 where it is told that Herod Agrippa killed him with a sword. Date of Martyrdom: 44-45 A.D.
(2) The Apostle Peter … Jesus told him in John 21:18-19 … asked to be crucified "head downward. " Date of Martyrdom: ca. 64 A.D.
(3) The Apostle Andrew … six years after Peter's death… he too was crucified for his faith. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
(4) The Apostle Thomas … was thrust through with pine spears, tormented with red-hot plates, and burned alive. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
(5) The Apostle Philip … evangelized in Phrygia where hostile Jews had him tortured and then crucified. [another source says he was excuted by hangiing]. 3 Date of Martyrdom: 54 A.D.
(6) The Apostle Matthew ... death by beheading at Nad-Davar. [other accounts say a sword wound killed him]2 Date of Martyrdom: 60-70 A.D.
(7) The Apostle Nathanael … he was flayed and then crucified. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
(8) The Apostle James the Lesser … was cast down from the Temple [ the same pinnacle where Satan tempted Jesus]2 and finally beaten to death with a fuller's club to the head. Date of Martyrdom: 63 A.D.
(9) The Apostle Simon the Zealot … being crucified by a governor in Syria. Date of Martyrdom: 74 A.D.
(10) The Apostle Judas Thaddeus aka Jude … beaten to death with sticks, showing to the world that Christ was indeed Lord and God. Date of Martyrdom: 72 A.D.
(11) The Apostle Matthias … He was later stoned while hanging upon a cross. [One tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the Jews, and then beheaded. (cf. Tillemont, "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire eccl. des six premiers siècles", I, 406-7). ] 2 Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
(12) The Apostle John … Some traditions tell us that he was thrown into boiling oil before the Latin Gate, where he was not killed but undoubtedly scarred for the rest of his life. He was exiled to the Island of Patmos under the Emperor Domitian. [The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully]. 2 Date of Martyrdom: 95 A.D.
(13) The Apostle Paul … a [former] persecutor of the Christian faith … Finally, Paul met his death at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero when he was beheaded in Rome. Date of Martyrdom: ca. 67 A.D.
Some speculated (like Herbert Lockyer unless I am nistaken) that God had intended for Paul to be the twelveth disciple.
file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/the-death-of-the-apostles%20(1).pdf
http://www.bibleprobe.com/apostles.htm 2
http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/who-were-twelve-disciples 3
What about our witness? Consider how we can answer that question with another question that perhaps you have heard and heard often:
1) Incriminating evidence: Like a question I saw back in my high school day duringa Sunday School lesson, “If it were against the law to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence in your life to convict you?”
2) Blessed Assurance: Do we have the assurance of salvation like that of Michael Faraday, the apostles, and our forebears? Or, are we lacking in assurance like Thomas Paine was?
3) Our legacy: What will be the legacy of our witness for those who come after us? The reason Christians believe what they believe and seek to answer the question of who we say that Jesus is to us is all because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord!
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
