Four friends were talking about death. One of them asked the other three, "When you are in your casket and people are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?" The first man said, "I’d like to hear them say that I was a fine physician in my time and a great family man." The second fellow said, "I’d like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and a school teacher who made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow." The third man replied, "I’d like to hear them say, ’Look, he’s moving!’"
Well, friends, I think most of us can empathize with that last fellow, but there is something better that I would like someone to say if I were lying in my casket. They are the words that Jesus spoke to Martha after her brother Lazarus had died. He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Friends, this hope of resurrection, this hope of conquering death, is at the heart of Christianity. Yes, as Christians we very much believe that our faith in Jesus makes a difference in this life. Each and every day we are called to live in a way that expresses our love for God and for others. Yet, one of the most important, most powerful and beautiful dimensions of Christianity is the hope it gives that physical death will not be the end, but through a resurrection we will enter God’s kingdom and experience eternal life. Probably the time when I’m most thankful that I am a Christian is when I’m doing a funeral service for someone whom I know was a believer in Christ, and I can say to the grieving widow or widower, to the children and the grandchildren, "It is not over. Because of the resurrection, this individual will live again in the kingdom of Jesus."
Today, as we continue our journey through 1 Corinthians, we come to Chapter 15 where we will be exploring the first 28 verses. As we do, my hope is that the Lord will enable us to understand and experience the power of the resurrection in a fresh way, in a way that will provide hope and joy as we seek to follow Jesus Christ. Let’s pray that will happen.
Let’s take a look at what the Apostle Paul has to say on the resurrection. He makes three basic points in this passage. The first is that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This is the heart of the Gospel, the good news that Paul proclaims. Sometimes there is discussion in the church about what constitutes the Gospel. What is the message we as Christians are called to share with other people? Some folks suggest it includes helping the poor, experiencing healing, etc. These may be results of the Gospel, but Paul makes it clear that this is not the content of his message. He gives us a succinct summary in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,... Jesus Christ: Crucified, buried and risen just as the Scriptures reveal; just as the Old Testament prophets had foretold. That is the Gospel, and from these events flow all sorts of great news. Jesus rising from the dead is the climax of the Gospel, and also the most difficult part for people to accept. Dead people tend to stay dead, both in the 1st and the 21st Centuries, so Paul gives an impressive list of eyewitnesses who can testify that they have seen the risen Lord. He mentions Peter and the other apostles, and in Verse 6, 500 people who saw Jesus on that occasion. This is apparently a crowd which had gathered to listen to Jesus after the resurrection; it may even be the folks who heard Him give the Great Commission at the end of Matthew 28. And suspecting there are folks who might be skeptics, who might say, "Yeah, right, Paul," he also notes that as he writes, about 20 years after these things happened, many of these witnesses are still alive. He says if anyone has questions, go and talk to these people who saw the risen Christ with their own eyes.
Paul, however, goes on to say, "Not only have I talked to folks who saw Jesus after He rose from the dead, but I myself saw Him as well. Oh, not in the same way as Peter and others did, but I saw Him." 15:8 ...and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. This appearance happened maybe two or three years after the resurrection, when the Lord Jesus met Paul, then known as Saul, on the road to Damascus. It was this very special encounter which enabled Paul to become an apostle even though he was not an eyewitness of the resurrection like the others. That is why he calls himself "one abnormally born." Well, you might say that was just a vision; that Paul did not really see the risen Christ. I think Paul would respond, "Oh, it might have been a vision, but I really did see Jesus. And while the other witnesses may have been looking for Him, I certainly was not. I believed Jesus was as dead as anyone could be. But, after what happened that day as I was heading for Damascus, I totally changed my mind. What I saw, heard and experienced proved to me that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord."
Paul’s total certainty of the resurrection of Jesus makes him puzzled by some of the thinking in Corinth. 15:12 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? This would mean (point #2) if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus Christ has not risen. Paul sees an intimate link between Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection of those who are believers in Jesus. To deny one is to deny both. To say that one could not happen, is to imply that the other could not happen. So, to say that believers in Christ who have died will not be resurrected is very serious stuff, because that implicitly is saying that Jesus did not rise from the dead. And that, Paul says, would not be good. If Jesus Christ has not been raised, Verse 13, then Paul says: #1 Our preaching is useless, Verse 14. It makes no sense at all to go out there and tell others about a Christ who is still dead. #2 Your faith is useless, Verse 14. Your confidence is not in a living Lord, but in a dead one. #3 We apostles are false witnesses, Verse 15. We are liars when we say Jesus is risen. #4 Your faith is futile, Verse 17. A dead Jesus cannot help you. #5 You are still in your sins, Verse 17, and still carry the guilt for that sin because God did not accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. #6 Those Christians who have died are lost, Verse 18. There is no hope for eternal life if Jesus is still in the grave. #7 We as Christians should be pitied, Verse 19. We are nothing but fools to go through hardship and persecution for the sake of Jesus, if He is not the risen Lord. We have no reason to believe any of the promises Jesus made, because He is nothing more than a corpse rotting in a tomb. Paul says to deny the resurrection of Jesus is to rip the heart right out of Christianity and make it nothing more than an empty shell.
But (point #3) Jesus has risen. Thus all those terrible things Paul spoke of in Verses 13-19 are not true, and Christians who have died will rise from the dead. 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. "Those who have fallen asleep" is a 1st Century euphemism for those Christians who have died. Because of the resurrection, Paul sees death as temporary, so in a sense our bodies are sleeping in the grave, waiting to be awakened by the Lord at the resurrection. Paul then goes on to explain how this is going to work. In Verses 21 and 22 he says that Jesus Christ is the source of resurrection and life, just as Adam was the source of sin and death. In Verse 23, he says that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which occurred in about 33 A.D., is the firstfruits, a Jewish term for the first produce that was harvested and offered to the Lord. Jesus’ resurrection is an important promise that those who trust in Him will be resurrected as well. This will not, however, happen until the end of the age. Then, 15:24-26 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the beginning of the conquest of death. That conquest will be complete; death will be totally defeated when those who are believers in Christ are raised from the dead. To use an historical analogy, the resurrection of Jesus is like D-Day when the Allies landed on the coast of Normandy in France. That event marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi Regime. Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of the end of the reign of sin and death. The resurrection of believers is like V-E Day, Victory in Europe, when Nazi Germany surrendered and the war was over. When the resurrection occurs at the end of human history, the battle with evil, sin and death will be over. The victory will be God’s, but we will be able to enjoy it throughout eternity. We know this will happen, because we know Jesus is risen from the dead.
Now, before we go on, I want to try to answer a couple of questions which come up sometimes when people study this passage. The first question is: Is Paul talking about everyone being raised from the dead, or just Christians? I believe he is just talking about Christians. Verse 22 says, "...in Christ all will be made alive," and some claim this means that every human being will eventually be saved, whatever religion they follow, or whether or not they even believe in God. But I think Paul clearly means that all who are believers will be made alive. In the next verse, 23, he says, "...those who belong to him" will be raised, and the entire New Testament makes it clear that some people will experience eternal life with the Lord, while others will face eternal punishment, or hell. Throughout this chapter Paul is speaking of the resurrection of Christian believers, what John calls the first resurrection, what many Christians believe happens before Christ returns to rule on earth. The resurrection for judgment, or the resurrection of the wicked and all those who don’t know Christ, is not Paul’s topic here. That is the second resurrection and occurs right before the great white throne of judgment which is described in Revelation 20:11-15. So in this text Paul is only talking about Christians being raised from the dead. Thus, the resurrection hope we are talking about belongs only to those of us who are Christians. Being religious or going to church is not enough. Unless we are trusting in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will not defeat death.
The second question is: Does this passage teach that Jesus Christ, God the Son, is inferior to God the Father? No, it does not. In Verses 25-28 Paul teaches that the Son will "be made subject" to the Father. If this were the only passage in the Bible that addressed this issue, then one might argue that yes, God the Father is superior to Jesus. But, this is not the only text we need to consider. Other passages, such as John 1, clearly teach the essential equality of the Father and the Son. So, how does this make sense? It is the voluntary submission of the Son to the Father. Jesus and God the Father are equals, equal in all aspects of being, power and character. Yet, Jesus willingly and joyously chooses to submit Himself to His Father. Grasping this relationship is very important, because it parallels the type of relationship Paul says in Ephesians 5 that a husband and wife should have. The wife is to submit to the servant leadership of her husband, not because she is inferior in any way, but because it is an act of love done by an equal partner. We don’t want to get hung up on this point, but it is important. God the Father and God the Son are equal. Men and women are equal. But, that doesn’t mean there is no room for submission.
OK, let’s get back to the resurrection. What does this truth that Paul teaches on this topic mean for us? Let me mention three things: First, a Jesus who did not rise from the dead is not the real Jesus. One thing which is clear in our text today is that the resurrection plays a very central role in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Now, that probably seems obvious to most of us, but there are folks who claim that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is just a myth. For example, in Peter Jennings’ special report, The Search For Jesus, Jennings featured Dr. Marvin Meyer who claims that the early Christians borrowed the idea of the resurrection from the pagan Roman mystery religions. Members of The Jesus Seminar have suggested that Jesus did not really die on the cross that first Good Friday. Instead He merely fainted, was put in the tomb and by Easter had been revived and came out, giving the disciples the impression He had risen from the dead. They don’t really explain how He was able to move the huge stone which blocked the tomb entrance, or how He was able to overpower the Roman guards who were keeping watch, but these folks don’t like to be confused by the facts. They ignore the truth that there is more historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived.
What I find most disturbing is that these people claim they are not attacking Christianity, but are just helping us see the truth about Jesus by stripping away some of the myth that has surrounded Him. Baloney! Paul makes it clear that the resurrection is at the heart of the Gospel, at the heart of the Jesus story. To talk about a Jesus who lived and died but did not rise from the dead is to talk about an imaginary Christ. A Jesus who did not conquer death is no more real that an Elvis Presley who is still alive. The real Jesus rose from the grave on Easter Sunday, and forty days later ascended to heaven, from which one day He will return to rule this earth as the living Lord and King. Friends, any church which teaches that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead is not a Christian church. It might be a church that does good things, it might be a church full of nice people, but it is not a Christian church. Any church that allows pastors and teachers who deny the resurrection to retain their positions in the church is not functioning as a Christian church. Christianity, the Gospel, is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To deny it is to rip the heart out of Christianity.
Secondly, Paul says that because of the resurrection, we don’t need to fear death. Now, I tend to think being afraid of dying is a very natural emotion. Oh, I know there are folks who claim to be unfazed by the prospect, but I suspect most of them are like Woody Allen who said, "I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens." I would argue that even as Christians we don’t need to be ashamed with being uncomfortable with death. After all, as Paul tells us at the end of this chapter, Verse 54, death is an enemy that will be only completely defeated on that great day of resurrection. So, it is OK to be uncomfortable with the thought of our own death. In fact, for those folks, often young people and others, who see death as something that only happens to someone else, it is important to come to grips with the truth that it is a universal reality, that 100 years from now it is unlikely that any of us will still be alive. So we don’t need to be comfortable with the thought of death, but as Christians we should not be afraid. When someone close to us dies, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 that it is OK to grieve for that friend or family member, but we should not grieve as those who have no hope. The reason we can face death with courage and hope is the resurrection. Because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, we know that we who are believers will one day be raised as well. My body will one day be put in a grave, not to rot, but to wait for that marvelous day of resurrection.
I love the way John Bunyan describes death in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Before Christian and Hopeful are able to enter the heavenly city, they must first cross the river which represents death. Christian is afraid he will sink as he steps into the water, but Hopeful who is a few yards ahead says, "Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom and it is good." Oh, friends, it is not pleasant to cross that river of death, but if we are a believer in Christ, we will not sink, the bottom is solid and good. As the old spiritual says, Jordan’s river is chilly and cold, chills the body, but not the soul. Death is not fun, but it is not something a Christian needs to fear.
The third thing we can learn from what Paul says is that we need to stop pretending this life is all there is. I think one of the most important verses in our text is 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. This is something that I am afraid a lot of us have a hard time swallowing. You see, often we are grateful for our Christian faith because of how it makes our lives better right now. Because I am a Christian, I right now have all sorts of wonderful friends who are kind, generous and fun to be with. Because I am a Christian, I right now enjoy a marriage where both Nancy and I are committed to Christ and where we seek to raise our boys in a way that pleases the Lord. Because I am a Christian, I right now get to read all sorts of interesting Christian books, listen to all sorts of inspiring Christian music, and get to attend all sorts of exciting Christian events. Because I am a Christian, I try to follow the commands that God has given in the Bible and I think my life right now is better because of that. The surveys say that on average, people who go to church do indeed enjoy better health, have happier marriages, are more successful in their careers and have more money than people who don’t go to church. I enjoy being a Christian. Even if there were no resurrection, even if we all just die and stay dead, I have a feeling I would still choose to be a Christian, because it is a good life.
Friends, I think the Apostle Paul would be a little shocked by that type of thinking. He might say, "Dan, you are a little mixed up. Oh, I found a lot of joy in this life, too, but it is only a shadow of what is ahead for those of us who are believers in Christ. I also wonder if you are really out there serving the Lord and other people as you should be; if your life is as easy and comfortable as you describe. Don’t you remember Jesus’ instruction that we are to store up treasures in heaven, rather than treasures on earth, because that is where we will truly be able to enjoy them?"
At most times in history, and in many parts of the world today, Christians have understood very clearly what Paul means when he says that Christians are pitiful fools if there is no resurrection. People in places like China, Sudan, Indonesia and India would have to be nuts to try to follow Jesus if they did not believe in the resurrection. Their life here is not easier because they are Christians; it is harder, and yet they look forward to what is ahead. I have two friends who have served as missionaries in Delhi, India, for a number of years. The church they currently attend is served by one pastor and four young men in their early 20s who are students and kind of associate pastors. A couple of months ago, two of these young men were trapped by a Hindu mob and were nearly beaten to death. It has become a dangerous thing to be a Christian in northern India. Yet, because my friends are committed to serving the Lord and the people of India, they stay there with their two young children, possibly risking their lives. Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense for them to move back to Wisconsin? Aren’t they being rather foolish? No, if there is resurrection. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, because we too will one day rise from the dead, obeying Jesus is more important than even concerns of personal safety.
Friends, we need to remember that because the resurrection is a reality, our preparations for the next life are more important than our plan for this life. What kind of car we drive is not nearly as important as how we treat the people around us. How much money we have in the bank is not nearly as important as our willingness to share whatever we have with others. How successful we are in sports, academics, or other activities is not nearly as important as how faithful we are in serving the Lord in our church. What other people think of us is not nearly as important as what God thinks of us. Because the resurrection is a reality, the most important goal we can have is that one day, when this life is over, the Lord will say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Friends, the resurrection is a reality. Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead. Those of us who trust in Him as Lord and Savior will really rise from the dead one day. That is a reason to celebrate.
Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan’s sermon site containing full text messages
