Suppose you were walking down a road, and suddenly came to a fork, and you didn’t know which way to go. And at this fork in the road, there were two men, one dead and one alive—which one would you ask for directions? A man once asked his friends this question, as a response to when they asked him why he had become a Christian. He chose to put his faith in Jesus, because Jesus is alive. He is risen.
For 6 weeks, we have been studying prophecies that looked ahead to the death of Jesus Christ, as a substitutionary sacrifice to pay for the sins of humankind. We call the day that Jesus was crucified “Good Friday.” And it isn’t called good because it was a happy day. Rather, it refers to the more traditional understanding of the word good, “that which is morally right or righteous”. It is called Good Friday, because through the sacrifice of Jesus ON Good Friday, we can now be righteous and good, in God’s sight.
This is what we have been looking forward to for the past 6 weeks. Today however, is the day that we as the church celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. This is the day in which we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the grave. We often use these formal churchy phrases when we talk about these things, so I want to emphasize this in clear language: Today is the day, in which we as a church celebrate the fact that Jesus LITERALLY and PHYSICALLY came back to life, after being LITERALLY physically dead for days. And we celebrate this because we believe that it is true. We believe that this is a real, historical event that REALLY happened.
The resurrection has been a stumbling block to people ever since the day it happened. Because death is final. People don’t just wake up after being dead for days! Dead is dead. And in the case of Jesus, dead was REALLY meant to be dead. Crucified, then after dying, stabbed in the side with a spear, just to make extra sure that he was very much dead. As soon as Jesus was discovered to NOT be in his tomb, dead, a rumour was started that his body had been stolen by his disciples. From the very beginning, people have been trying to lie about the resurrection of Jesus. Because they recognized the power of it.
Unfortunately for them, it is hard to convince people that Jesus HADN’T risen from the
dead, when Jesus was walking around and talking to people. In total, we know that there were at LEAST 516 people who saw Jesus alive. But still, many people didn’t believe. Some suggested that Jesus hadn’t come back to life. Some suggested that Jesus experienced a spiritual resurrection, and he only APPEARED to be alive again. Or if they finally were convinced of the resurrection of Jesus, many in the early churches did not believe that THEY would experience a resurrection some day. people have struggled with the resurrection piece for thousands of years, and people still struggle with it today. Because it doesn’t make sense! It isn’t scientifically feasible! When you die, your body immediately begins to break down. After days, there is no coming back! But Jesus did.
The theology of the resurrection is central to everything we believe. That is why Easter is the most important holiday in the Christian calendar. With the resurrection, we have new life, and the promise of a resurrection of our own. But without the resurrection, all that we have is false hope. Everything we believe rests on this one thing. Every Christian must believe in the resurrection, because without it our faith is in nothing.
We are going to be studying 1 Corinthians today, chapter 15, verses 12-20. So let’s start by reading this passage in its entirety, starting in verse 12: “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Before we go too far, I want to share some contextual information. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter in the mid 50’s AD to the church in Corinth, to address a huge list of problems. Corinth was one of the chief commercial cities in the Roman Empire. It was a port city, and had a reputation for rowdiness. Corinth had two patron deities: There was Poseidon, god of the sea, and then Aphrodite, goddess of sensual love. And the worship of Aphrodite was huge in the city of Corinth! Now, as you can imagine, being a port town and being a center of worship of the goddess of sensual love, Corinth was the definition of a rowdy port town. And it had earned such a reputation that being called a Corinthian in the first century was a euphemism for being a partier. So it is no surprise that Paul had to write this letter to address a laundry list of ethical and moral problems in the church.
Something else you should know about the people in Corinth, is that resurrection from the dead was not a familiar concept to them. Unlike the Jews in Palestine, who for the most part did believe in a bodily resurrection, most of the Greek and Roman world did not. So, understandably, the churches farther away from Israel started to have issues around the resurrection theology. First of all, none of these people were there to see Jesus alive when he had risen from the dead! If you lived in Palestine, it was easy to find someone who had seen Jesus, if you knew who to talk to. AND if you lived in Palestine, chances were you already believed in some sort of resurrection, so it was not as big of a jump to make for them! But in Corinth, that wasn’t the case. It is fairly safe to say that they HADN’T been there when it had taken place, they DIDN’T live next door to all these people who saw it happen, and Christianity was their first introduction to the idea of a resurrection. So when Paul wrote this section of 1 Corinthians, he was dealing with some very real and very serious doubts about the fact that there would be a resurrection of Christians some day.
Alright, so going back to our passage, I want to reread the first couple verses: “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.” So Paul begins to address the controversy over resurrection in the church in Corinth. And what he does is walk through this logical argument, that illustrates the consequences of denying the possibility of resurrection from the dead. He points out that they are denying that resurrection is possible. And if resurrection is impossible, then Jesus couldn’t have been raised from the dead! Certainly they must believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, so how can they say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If they accepted that Jesus WAS raised from the dead, it shows that it is possible. That is the starting point of Paul’s argument. But if they are determined that it is NOT possible for people to come back from the dead, then Jesus could not have been raised from the dead either. He was fully God yes, but he was also fully human, and he died a very much human death. Remember, he died and was buried for days. His soul had left his body. His body was cold and stiff. The blood stopped circulating through his veins. The same physical barriers to raising from the dead existed for Jesus as any other dead person. Jesus was fully God, but his human body was very much dead. If they truly believed that it was absolutely absurd and impossible that the dead should rise, then it logically follows that Jesus did not rise either, for the same reasons. That is the first consequence of the denial of the resurrection.
Paul explains what this means for them in the following verses. First he says, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Rejecting the resurrection of the saints is to reject the resurrection of Jesus, and therefore, the gospel. The Gospel is good news. Without good news, there is no gospel. It tears the heart right out of it, and leaves it lifeless. Without the resurrection, our faith would be pointless. And so would be my preaching. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, what is there for me to preach about? All preaching comes out of this one event. We preach the good news. If Jesus has not been raised, what is left for me to preach about? Without the resurrection, our entire belief system is false. This is the logical consequence of that condition or particle in the original Greek translations of this letter. The greek word we translate as useless means “Empty”. If Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead, then all the preaching every single Christian has done for the last two years has nothing to it, no substance, it’s empty and pointless. It is the RESURRECTION that shows us that God is active in Jesus, and if the resurrection did not take place, then the gospel is a sham. And if the gospel was a sham, then so was the faith it produced. This is the second consequence of the denial of the resurrection.
Paul elaborates on this, and carries this argument to it’s next logical conclusion: “More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.” So remember, this the logical conclusion following what came before. Don’t forget that Paul gave up his career as a Pharisee to preach the gospel of Jesus. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then he had turned his back on God for heresy. He preached things about God that were not true, misleading thousands of people. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then everything we have preached is not only empty and pointless, but we are also false witnesses. Charlatans. Heretics. If Jesus has not risen from the dead, then we have testified AGAINST God. Now, Paul is making an assumption about the Corinthians here. He assumed that the Corinthians COULDN’T believe that the apostles were heretics, because they had seen too much evidence with their own eyes that the apostles were speaking the truth. There was too much evidence for them to believe the apostles were heretics. But the logic stands: if the resurrection were not true, then everyone who has preached in the name of Jesus has testified against God, and is a heretic. This is the third consequence of the denial of the resurrection.
Then finally Paul brings this argument to its very obvious conclusion: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” So without the resurrection, not only are all who preached the name of Jesus heretics. Not only is your faith empty and pointless. But any person who has put their faith in
Jesus Christ has no hope of eternal life. If there is no resurrection, we are all still in our sin. We all still will have to answer and pay the penalty for every single sin we have ever committed. If there is no resurrection, we are still dead in our sin, we are still prisoners to it. Without the resurrection, sin still rules over our lives. If we set our hope in Jesus, and there is no resurrection, we are to be pitied among all the world, because if there is no resurrection, we are pitiful, sad, and deluded people. If there is no resurrection, we have set our hopes on a Lord who we think will bring us a richer, fuller life, but in reality all that distinguishes us from others is a special form of hardship. And not only that, but everyone who has died believing in Jesus has perished into eternal judgment. This is the fourth consequence of the denial of the resurrection.
This is what a world in which there is no resurrection looks like. If there is no resurrection, then Jesus could not have been resurrected. And if Jesus was not resurrected, then my preaching and our faith is empty and pointless, the gospel is a sham. And if the gospel is not true, then we are all false witnesses against God, and we are all heretics. And if we are heretics, then we are all still in our sin, slaves to it, and we will pay the full price for that sin at the final judgment. Without a resurrection, we are a sad, deluded and pitiful people. If Jesus has not risen from the grave, then this is the reality of our existence and our so-called faith.
But then we come to verse 20. Paul says, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Praise God. This is what we are here to celebrate. Not just on Easter, but every Sunday, and not just on Sunday, but every day. This is the hope that we profess, the only hope we have. Jesus HAS been raised from the dead, he was physically brought back to life by God, and he is still alive today.
So because Jesus HAS been brought back to life, because Jesus IS alive, because there IS a resurrection, here are three reasons that we have as a church to celebrate today.
First, because there is a resurrection, we have power over sin. Without the resurrection, the Gospel has no power. There is no good news if Jesus was not raised from the dead. But he HAS been raised from the dead, and there IS a resurrection. And because of that, we are no longer slaves to sin. Romans 6 verses 3-7 says, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life. If we’ve become united with him in a death like his, certainly we will also be united with him when we come back to life as he did. We know that the person we used to be was crucified with him to put an end to sin in our bodies. Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin. The person who has died has been freed from sin.” We have died to sin through Jesus. Our sin was placed in the tomb with him, and just as Jesus was brought back to life, we also have been brought into a new life. Our old selves have died. We are no longer slaves, we are children of God, FREE from the power of sin over our lives. And that gives us power over sin. Romans 6:14 says “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” Without a resurrection, we are still slaves to sin. But BECAUSE there is a resurrection, we have power OVER sin.
Second, because there is a resurrection, we have eternal life. If there is no resurrection, there is no gospel. And if there is no Gospel, then we are still in our sins. And if we are still in our sins, then we still have to pay the wages of sin. Romans 3:23, For the wages of sin is death. But Jesus HAS been raised from the dead, and because of that, the penalty for sin has been paid for, and he now offers us eternal life. The second part of Romans 3:23 says, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And this means not only that we have eternal life, but that we will be resurrected one day too, just like Jesus. And not only will we be resurrected, but we will be given new heavenly bodies, like Jesus. Philippians 3:20 says: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Without the resurrection, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, we still owe a great debt, too great of a debt to pay, a debt that demands our life in payment. But because there IS a resurrection, because Jesus HAS been raised from death, the penalty for our sin has been paid in full, our slates have been wiped clean, and we have been given the gift of eternal life through Jesus instead.
Third, because there is a resurrection, we have a purpose. If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, if there is no resurrection, then everything I have preached about since I came here in January has been meaningless. If there is no resurrection, I have wasted my time by preparing it and preaching it, and you have wasted your time by coming here every week and listening to it. Everything that we do as Christians and as a church, it only matters if Jesus has been raised from the dead. Galatians 2:16 says, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no gospel. Without the gospel, all that we have is the law of Moses, and Paul says that NONE will be justified by keeping the commandments, because as he tells us in Romans, ALL have sinned, and ALL fall short of the glory of God. Without a resurrection, there is no point or purpose to what we do, and the world should pity us for our delusion. But because there IS a resurrection, because Jesus HAS been raised from the dead, we do have a purpose, and there IS a gospel. The resurrection IS the gospel. It is good news, and it needs to be shared with all. The irony of the world today is that they believe that Christianity establishes a high standard that they can’t achieve, and that we are all hypocrites because we look down on others for not meeting a standard that we don’t meet ourselves. That is the Christianity that most of the world sees! But the TRUTH, the gospel, the GOOD NEWS, is that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Jesus PAID for OUR sins. We don’t have to MEET a perfect standard anymore in order to be righteous in God’s sight. God has given us the FREEDOM to pursue holiness in our lives, without the fear of what happens when we fail. So of course we look like hypocrites. It’s because we are! Every single one of us! Not one of us meets God’s standard of holiness. But God still loves us, he sent his son to DIE for us, and to destroy death FOR us by coming back from death, and THAT is good news.
Because there is a resurrection, your life MATTERS. What we do with our lives MATTERS. There is good news to be shared, you can change lives by freeing others from the bondage to sin that you once lived in. Because there is a resurrection, our lives matter, we have a purpose both as Christians individually, and as the church.
In conclusion, on this Easter Sunday, Jesus is Risen. He physically came back from death, to life, and he is still alive today. And thank goodness for that. Because if there is no resurrection, there is no gospel. If he has NOT risen, we are a rudderless boat, with no hope, purpose or direction, wasting our lives in pursuit of a lie. But because Jesus HAS risen, because Jesus HAS been raised from the dead, we are no longer slaves to sin, we are DEAD to it. We have power OVER it. BECAUSE Jesus HAS been raised from the dead, we have the hope of life after death, and a resurrection of our own. The penalty for our sin has been paid for, and we are now blameless in God’s eyes. Because Jesus HAS been raised from the dead, we have a purpose as the church, and our lives have meaning and purpose as believers.
We have been given the greatest gift in history, and we are called to share it with the world. Because there IS a resurrection, there IS a gospel. Because Jesus lives, because there IS a resurrection, today is a day of celebration like no other. PRAY
Have a great Easter everyone! Thank you for coming, and see you next week!
