The Angle From Above

Background to passage: There were a lot of things to clean up for the Apostle Paul in the Corinthian church. Evidently there were some within the church who were teaching that there was no resurrection of the dead. Paul knows this is at the center of the Christian faith, for as he said, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain…and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” He then writes that opposite is true - there is a resurrection, Christ did raise, the dead in Christ have not perished, and those of you who have put your faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are free from the penalty of your sins.

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 ESV

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.

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.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

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.

Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Opening illustration: Big difference in perspective from a tree than on the ground, especially when the coyotes are close, howling, chasing something, and headed our way.

Main thought: From the angle above we watch the Easter story unfold. My message today is not complex, but it is the power given to save, of which I am not ashamed, and of which I have been made a minister. As I proclaim to you that Christ died and rose again, TWO THINGS: let believers be strengthened and you who may be living far from God be awakened to the things of “first importance.”

1) The Facts of the Gospel (v. 1, 3-4)

1 Corinthians 15:1 (ESV)

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you...

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 ESV

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,

1) The Facts of the Gospel (v. 1, 3-4)

Explanation: We have the benefit of hindsight. We have the blessing to know the full story. We have the privilege to have the summary written for us in the clearest of language. Here we are given that clarity, that succinct, concise, but full view of the gospel truths: Jesus died for our sins, according the the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the scriptures. The important facts: 1) Jesus actually died, 2) it was for our sins, 3) he was raised from the dead (and is still alive), 4) it was all in accordance with all the prophecies of scripture.

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

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.

Romans 3:25 ESV

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Illustration: On April 24, 1997, prosecutor Joseph Hartzler in the trial of Timothy McVeigh, made his opening statement. It made my sermons look like a credit card commercial. It was 29 pages long in a PDF on my computer, but it was so long that the judge offered the court a 20 minute recess because it had carried them to the mid-morning break, and he was only a little more than halfway through. In the movie A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise, Kevin Bacon, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore, prosecutor Kevin Bacon makes his opening statement in a minute and a half, beginning and ending with “the facts of the case are these, and they are undisputed. Tom Cruise makes his in about 65 seconds.