The Challenge To Believe

The Challenge to Believe

1 Corinthians 15

Introduction

A friend wrote a lyric many years ago that still captures my attention “Give me something to believe in, give me something to hold on to.” There are many challenges to our faith - sometimes we face daily.

In 1 Corinthians Paul has outlined several ways that the faith of the Corinthians had been chipped away one piece at a time. Brothers and sisters who chose argument over peace. Jealousy and factions in the church. Sin was openly accepted, sometimes even bragged about. Distrust, alienation, division, and pride all drove a stake in the heart of the fellowship that should be present. The culture of Corinth didn’t help at all, adding to the struggle to

maintain faith in a faithless world. These kinds of problems make it hard to love others. They can damage our belief and faith in God.

We are familiar with this - we live in a world like that too. Terrible events in life that leave us grasping for answers. The idea of “truth” has been redefined as “feelings”. Weaknesses plague us, prayers seem to be unanswered. Incomplete and inadequate ideas about God:There is no God ... God is there, but he doesn’t care what happens to us ... This life is it, so live it up.

Paul’s answer to the challenge of believing rings true today: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2)

Paul’s Message: Don’t give up believing - it costs you too much!

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, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Christ Died, Was Buried, Rose Again! Hayford: "The importance of the Resurrection is underscored by its being mentioned more than 100 times in the New Testament. It is the most profound and prominent point in all apostolic preaching in the primitive church." He is Risen! This is not just the Easter message, but the daily message that brings us hope and strength! He was Seen by Peter, the Twelve, James.

Then Paul says, vs 8, "Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

1. THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

Transformation. I Am (10 "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."). The transformation of Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle was dramatic. What about your transformation - what has changed your life more dramatically than believing in the risen Christ?

Forgiveness (17 “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”)

Hope of a Life to Come (19 “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”)

Defeat of Death (26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”)

Eternity. Gives us assurance of our own resurrection (42 “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.”)

Victory (51-57)

1 Corinthians 15:51-57

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

-That day will come. Nowhere in the Bible are we given a date for the return for Christ. But that day is coming!

-That day will come Suddenly! (51-52). Moment, atomos - from which we get our word atomic. Uncut, indivisible…infinitely small. … Christ’s return will be in an atomic second (Hayford).