Daniel Taylor, in an article he calls Letters to My Children, writes:
When I was a child, I was, like most children, afraid of things that go bump in the night. But I told myself (for no good reason) that monsters which lie under beds cannot break through blankets and sheets! By the time I was a teenager I wasn't afraid of what might live under my bed, but I was afraid of what my friends might have to say about the way I combed my hair.
“What do I fear now? I am afraid, to put it simply, of living a life that doesn't matter. I am afraid of leaving the world exactly as I found it, no different for my having been here (Daniel Taylor, “Letters to My Children,” Christian Reader, Vol. 31; www. PreachingToday.com).
Is that what you fear? Then I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15, where the Bible tells us how God saves us from a life that doesn’t matter.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 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 (ESV)—i.e., without any result.
However, the only way to believe the Gospel in vain is to deny the resurrection of Christ. For if Christ is not raised, verse 14 says, then your faith is vain. But since Christ has been raised, then your faith produces results. So, if you want God to save you from a life that doesn’t matter…
BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.
Put your faith in the good news about Jesus. Trust Christ with your life.
That’s the gospel “by which you are being saved,” verse 2 says. Notice, the “being saved” is in the present tense. It is not the gospel “by which you WERE saved.” It is not the gospel, “by which you WILL BE saved.” NO! It is the gospel, “by which you are BEING saved” right now in the continuing, present tense. In other words, since you believed the gospel, God is right now, continually saving you from wasting your life. God is right now, continually saving you from wasteful, sinful, and self-destructive attitudes and behaviors.
So what does it mean to “believe the gospel?” Well, Paul uses several synonyms for “believe” in these verses: 1st, to believe means to receive the gospel—i.e., to accept or receive it as true. 2nd, to believe means to stand in the gospel—i.e., to firmly remain or stay in the gospel, depending on it every day. And 3rd, to believe means to hold fast to the gospel—i.e., to retain or continue to rely on the gospel, with the implication of acting in accordance with such belief. True faith goes beyond just accepting the gospel as true. It involves a life change as you live your life in dependence upon Christ.
Pastor Jeremy McKeen, from West Palm Beach, Florida, talks about a Muslim college student who came to believe in Jesus Christ. One of his friends was shocked and asked him, “Why did you become a follower of Jesus?”
The former Muslim responded, “It’s simple really. Imagine that you’re walking down a road and you come to a fork in the road and there are two people there to follow as your guide along the way. One of them is dead, and one of them is alive. Which one would you follow?” (Jeremy McKeen, “Because He Lives,” Truth Point Church Blog, 3-11-16; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s what it means to truly believe. Instead of following a dead guide, you choose to follow the living Christ, trusting Him for daily strength and the direction of your life.
God continues to save such believers from wasting their lives. So, if you want God to save YOU from a life that doesn’t matter, believe the gospel. Specifically…
BELIEVE THAT CHRIST DIED FOR YOUR SINS AND ROSE AGAIN.
Rely on the fact that Jesus died to pay the price for your sins and then came out of the grave alive three days later! Don’t just know this good news to be true, depend on it for yourself.
1 Corinthians 15:3-7 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles (ESV).
That’s the gospel, my friends. That’s the good news on which you must rely for God to save you from a wasted life.
First, believe that Christ died for your sins, proved by the fact that He was buried.
Years ago, a woman wrote J. Vernon McGee: “Our preacher said that on Easter Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed him back to health. What do you think?”
McGee replied, “Dear Sister, beat your preacher with a leather whip for thirty-nine heavy strokes. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours. Run a spear through his heart. Embalm him. Put him in an airless tomb for three days. Then see what happens” (Robert Russell, "Resurrection Promises," Preaching Today, Tape 151; www.PreachingToday.com).
To be sure, Jesus really died on the cross and His burial proves it.
Now, Jesus was more than just a martyr for a good cause. He died for our sins! That is, He died because of our sins just like the Old Testament Scriptures predicted the Messiah would do.
Isaiah 53:4-6 says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5: “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
On the cross, God treated Jesus like a sinner so He could treat us as saints. Or to put it another way: God punished Jesus for your sins and mine so He wouldn’t have to punish us.
In C.S. Lewis’ classic fairy tale, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, four London children find a magic wardrobe that leads them to a mystical land called Narnia. There, the White Witch holds the land under a wicked spell, which makes it winter all year round without Christmas.
The Witch seduces Edmund, one of the children, with the false promise of a position in her kingdom if he would bring his siblings to her. He succumbed to her tempting offer, but failed to fulfill the Witch's request, so she imprisoned him in her palace.
Aslan, the Lord of Narnia, rescues Edmund from the witch, after which she demands a meeting with Aslan. Take a look (show Aslan and the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).
Standing before Aslan, she declares, "You have a traitor in your midst."
Aslan responds, "His offense is not against you."
"Have you forgotten the laws upon which Narnia was built?" asks the Witch.
Aslan growls and answers, "Don't cite the deep magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written."
"Then you'll remember well that every traitor belongs to me. His blood is my property."
Edmund's brother, Peter, draws his sword. "Try and take him, then."
"Do you really think," asks the Witch, "that mere force will deny me my right, little king? Aslan knows that, unless I have blood as the law demands, all of Narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water. That boy will die upon the stone table—as is tradition. You dare not refuse me."
"Enough," declares Aslan. "I shall talk with you alone."
Aslan enters the tent, followed by the Witch. After a short time they return. Edmund and the entire village await the news.
Aslan speaks: "She has renounced her claim on the son of Adam's blood."
As the people begin to rejoice, the Witch asks Aslan, "How can I know your promise will be kept?"
His response is a ferocious roar.
Lucy, Edmund's sister, rejoices and smiles at Aslan. Then suddenly, as if she realizes something is amiss, her smile begins to fade (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, DVD chapter 17, 01:32:00 – 01:35:15, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk5TE-7heoc; www.Preaching Today.com).
What Lucy doesn't know, at this moment, is the cost of Edmund's freedom: Aslan will die on the stone table in Edmund's place.
You see, that’s what Jesus did for you and me on the cross. He died in our place because of our treachery and sin. He died so we could go free. That’s the gospel. That’s good news! Please, believe it. Believe that Christ died for your sins.
Then believe that Christ was raised from the dead, proved by the fact that He appeared, or better He was seen. Be certain that His physical body came alive again on the third day after He died.
The Old Testament Scriptures predicted this as well as Messiah’s death.
Psalm 16:10 says, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” In Acts 13, Paul says that the psalmist David did not say this about himself, because David died, was buried, and his body decayed in the grave. Rather, the Psalmist said this about the Messiah (Acts 13:35-37).
Isaiah 53:10 also says of the Messiah, “It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” After Jesus sacrifices Himself for our sins, He will “prolong His days” and see those who become His followers.
Then Isaiah 53:12 goes on to say, “I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.” Because Jesus died like a criminal in the battle for your soul, God will give Him the spoils of war, something God can do only if Messiah is alive after He died.
The Old Testament Scriptures predicted both Messiah’s death and resurrection. Now, this may be enough to convince a believer, but a skeptic needs more proof.
So Paul declares that Jesus was seen by a lot of people, naming some of them specifically, including the fact that He was seen by over 500 people at one time, most of which were still alive at the time. It’s like Paul is saying, “If you don’t believe the Scripture, just ask the eyewitnesses, of whom there are many!”
They didn’t see a ghost or hallucinate. They actually saw Jesus in the flesh, and some of them actually ate with Him and touched Him.
In his recent book, Justin Brierley asks: Were the disciples just hallucinating that they saw the resurrected Jesus? Hallucinations do sometimes occur when people lose loved ones. The people most likely to experience a grief hallucination are senior adults grieving the loss of a spouse. Approximately 50 percent do, often believing they hear or sense the person with them. However, only 7 percent of all senior adults grieving the loss of a loved one experience a visual hallucination of that person. It's also worth noting that people don't experience the same hallucinations—most psychologists agree that mass hallucinations don't occur.
In contrast, 100 per cent of the disciples experienced what they believed were visual appearances of Jesus. That's a far greater percentage than can be supported by hallucination research completed during the past century (Justin Brierley, Unbelievable: Why After Ten Years of Talking With Atheists, I'm Still a Christian, SPCK, 2017, pages 137-138; www.PreachingToday. com).
Add to that the fact that Jesus’ tomb was empty and that most of these eyewitnesses died for their faith, and you have proof way beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. Please, believe it, because it will transform you just like it did Jesus’ early followers.
Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass M.D. PhD, is a physician, scientist, and Assistant Professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis. He described the effects of Jesus’ resurrection as one of the reasons that he as a scientist believes in the resurrection. He writes:
After Jesus' violent death, His followers were frightened and scattered. Then, something happened that grew a strong, bold, and confident belief that resisted sustained, murderous opposition… They were all suddenly willing to die for what they saw (Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass, “Is There Evidence for Easter? A Scientist's List,” The Veritas Forum, 4-15-17; www.PreachingToday.com).
Christ’s resurrection transformed His scared and scattered followers into bold witness who “turned their world upside down” (Acts 17:6). And your faith in His resurrection can do the same for you. So, if you want God to save you from a life that doesn’t matter, believe the gospel. Specifically, believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again. Then…
LET THE GOSPEL TRANSFORM YOU!
Let the good news about Jesus change you from the inside out, and let His grace empower you to do more than you ever could otherwise.
That’s what happened to Paul, who wrote these words. Take a look.
1 Corinthians 15:8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (ESV).
Paul saw Christ, as well, even though he came later than the rest of the apostles. He calls himself “untimely born,” which is not only a reference to the time he became an apostle, but also to the kind of apostle he was. The original Greek word usually meant a dead fetus by either abortion or miscarriage. So Paul may be calling himself a freak compared to the other apostles (Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary, 2014).
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not 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 (ESV).
Even though Paul was the last of Christ’s apostles and the least, God’s grace empowered him to do more than any of the apostles.
1 Corinthians 15:11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed (ESV).
God used Paul and the rest of the apostles to influence people to believe in Jesus. The gospel totally transformed the Apostle Paul, and the gospel can totally transform you, as well, as long as you believe it, as long as you rely on what Jesus did for you when He died on the cross and rose again. You may feel like you’re the least and the last, a freak even, but God in His grace can use you to accomplish a lot for His glory!
Dallas Willard says, “Grace is not opposed to effort; it’s opposed to earning” (Dallas Willard, "Taking God's Keys," Leadership, Fall 1998, p. 57; www.PreachingToday.com). The fact is, while unearned, God’s grace empowers you to expend more effort than you would otherwise.
A. J. Gordon was out walking one day, when he saw something across a field that caught his attention. There, beside a house, he saw a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps. The man seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing down in the slightest.
It was remarkable, so Gordon started walking across the field to check it out. As he approached, Gordon saw that it wasn’t a man at all, doing the pumping. It was a wooden figure, painted to look like a man. The arm on the figure was hinged at the elbow, and the hand was wired to the pump handle.
As it turned out, the whole apparatus was part of an artesian well, and the water was gushing out, not because the man was pumping it, but because the water was pumping the man.
That’s how the grace of God works in you if you are connected to Christ. You don’t do the work yourself. God does the work through you. All you have to do is “keep your hand on the handle,” so to speak. All you have to do is remain connected to Christ. Or as Paul put it in verse 2, all you have to do is “hold fast” to the gospel, or continue to rely on Christ.
My dear friends, if you want God to save you from a life that doesn’t matter, believe the gospel. Specifically, believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again. Then let the Gospel transform you.
Christian counselor, Julie Smith Lowe, uses the image of two vases to describe how the Gospel works in those who believe it. She says:
Imagine the first vase is beautiful, and it sits perched on a shelf. Its main purpose is to look attractive. In the same way, we also want to look attractive and impressive. We want people to be drawn to our external appearance. We want the world to look at us and say, "Look how successful, beautiful, strong, or smart you are!"
But the [gospel] paints a different picture. Instead of being a beautiful vase, let's consider a very different vase—a dirty, cracked, ordinary vase. Just like us, this vase also has flaws—struggles, weaknesses, and imperfections. In many ways, this vase doesn't impress us with its appearance. As a matter of fact, it might even seem "weak," broken, and flawed.
But there's good news: there's a treasure in this vase. And the only way you can see the treasure is when it shines through the cracks and the flaws. In the same way, there's a treasure in those who follow Christ—Christ himself is the treasure that resides in us, the cracked vessel.
Unfortunately, we often want to hide our weaknesses. We want to rely on our external appearance and performance. So any time we find a crack or hole, we desperately grab for something to try and hide our weaknesses and shortcomings (Julie Smith Lowe, "Body Language," CCEF NOW, 2012; www.PreachingToday. com).
Please, stop trying to hide your imperfections. Those efforts soon fail, because the façade soon fades. Just trust Christ with your life and let Him shine through you, cracks and all.
