Raised - Unshakable Series

Good morning. Welcome to the Park Avenue Church of Christ.

Why do we call ourselves that?

We meet on Park Avenue, but why church of Christ?

· Church - The New Testament was written in Greek and the word translated church simply means a group of people called out for an assembly. It’s used in secular Greek as an assembly of all kinds. Normally it is an assembly of people who have something in common, not just a mob of people.

· Of - That’s a participle. It means belonging to

· Christ

- Means anointed, Messiah, chosen one, Jesus

Church of Christ means an assembly of people who have something in common who belong to Christ, Jesus.

Included in that commonality is that we share certain beliefs about who Jesus is. And Jesus is a lot of things, isn’t he? He’s a great teacher. Compassionate. Humble. Kind. Loving. Demanding. Asks for our devotion. All those things are true, but there’s more. A lot of people fit that bill. What is different about Him? What is unique? What do we believe about Him that sets Him apart from everyone else?

Think of this. I invite you to a meal. There’s a lot involved with putting a mean together. Plates, glasses, placemats, table, chair, centerpiece, candles. Let’s say I invite you to a meal and you sit down at this table. It is still not a meal until what arrives? The food! Food id absolutely essential for a meal.

So what is absolutely essential for this to be an assembly of likeminded people who belong to Christ?

There was a man named Paul who was an early convert to Christianity. He was a contemporary of Jesus although he didn’t come to faith until after Christ died. He was a Jewish man who was well-trained in the Jewish faith. But once he became a Christian, he became devoted to spreading the good news of Jesus to the non-Jewish world. So he travelled extensively planting churches. Much of the book of Acts is the story of Paul. Many of your Bibles have maps at the back where you can follow along with journeys.

One important city Paul established a church was Corinth. It’s in Greece. Not far from Athens. The city is still there today. He stayed there 18 months getting this church going but eventually he left to spread the good news in other places. While away he gets news that this church has a lot of questions. They have a lot of issues. Paul writes two letters to this church that are included in the NT of the Bible. One issue they have is they have forgotten what really defined them as a church of Christ.

Here are some things they think are most important:

Who taught you. Paul taught me, that makes me better. Apollos taught me. Peter taught me. Paul’s response to that, “No. That’s not what is most important.”

Am I married or single. There seem to be a faction hat think that real Christians don’t get married. Although Paul sees an advantage to this, he again says, “No. That’s not what is most important.”

What I eat. There were some pagan temples in Corinth and in those temples sacrifices were brought and some of the left over sacrificial meat was sold in the markets. Some believers said it was okay to eat. Others said it was not okay. Paul’s response to that, “No. That’s not what is most important.”

What spiritual gift I have. Some highly valued speaking in tongues. That is what makes a person a Christian. Paul’s response to that, “No. That’s not what is most important.”

Paul addresses all these issues because they are important but they are not most important. There are a lot of things that we make more important than they should be. Even now. So, near the end of the letter in chapter 15 he wants them to know what is most important. He wants them to know what is absolutely essential.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (ESV) — 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Christ died for our sins – that is essential. His death benefitted us.

He was buried – a rumor may have started that he wasn’t really dead.

He was raised on the third day – the resurrection is an essential belief to Christianity

In the rest of the chapter Paul is going to talk about the resurrection.

The first point he says is that the resurrection is Undeniable.

Apparently, some people were doubting the resurrection. I can understand that. I’ve had my doubts at times. I’ve questioned it. Things like this don’t happen. People die. I’ve done a lot of funerals and never has one been cancelled! But that’s what makes it a miracle. That’s what makes Jesus unique. Not that he is the only one but he came to life by his own power. No one helped him!