The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
I Cor 15
In I Corinthians 15 Paul is rebuking the idea that there is no bodily resurrection from the dead. In other words, when you die, you just cease to exist. The biggest problem with that idea is how it impacts the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul ultimately states that if there is no Resurrection then Christ is not resurrected, our faith is in vain and our lives are wasted. Of course then, the opposite truth is what Paul states, there is a resurrection for every person. When we die, we do not cease to exist. Jesus’ Resurrection proves this.
- The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also.
11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
- The gospel
This is what we preach and this is what you believed!
This passage is the earliest bit of proven Christian teaching.
Paul says: What I received I passed on to you. Paul received this from the Apostles. When? Gal 1:18 Three years after Paul is converted, probably six to ten years after Jesus death, to follow Christ he travels to Jerusalem and spends two weeks talking with Peter and with James, Jesus’ brother. Paul received this gospel creed then. Creeds take time to formulate! The point is that this is the earliest historical testimony about what the gospel was to the Apostles! The Resurrection is no added on miracle decades later when people could not refute it. It is the cornerstone of the gospel, it is the sign to the skeptic that Jesus was more than just a great teacher. He is more than just the prophet from Nazareth!
The Apostles are the source of all information that we have about Jesus that is direct eyewitness testimony.
The consistent Apostolic testimony is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Resurrection accounts have some differences. One angel, two angels. Angel inside, angel outside. Those are the kinds of minor details that often are different with eyewitnesses.
What do they all agree upon? The tomb was empty and Jesus met them later! This is the clear testimony!! It is what they preached, it is what we are all called upon to believe!!
- Why it is good news?
Christ died for your sins. The wages of sin is death!
Christ was raised from the dead as first fruits.
Since by man came death, by man came also the Resurrection from the dead.
Jesus died for our sins in order that we might have His life. It is an exchange. God made Him sin Who knew no sin, in order that we might become the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus’ life of good works is like Noah building the ark. It is the possibility of escape from the wrath of God for the sin of mankind. Then Jesus stays outside the Ark and is drowned. All who believe get in the Ark and are carried above the wrath of God.
- This is what we believe
It is what we trust, love, obey, follow and listen to!
But, not everyone believes this way! And it has always been this way!
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?
- The Power of the Resurrection Now
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
- Jesus Resurrection is for all that sin kills
Justification is done. Glorification is a future guarantee.
Sanctification is what we are left with. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work within you both to will and do HIS GOOD PLEASURE!
That means that all of this life now is about resurrection. Phil 3:10
Paul says that he abandons the pursuit of every other thing in his life in order that “I may know Christ, the power of His Resurrection, the Fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death!
As we deny our sinful selves, this feels like death. Jesus resurrects our sacrifices with a good life!
Giving money.
Giving time.
Giving energy.
Giving consideration.
Giving attention.
Giving love.
Giving your life.
21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
God’s plan is that you would live in Resurrection life. “Not my will, but Your will be done!”
You ways are higher than my ways. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Therefore, I will abandon my ways to yours and turn from my thoughts to yours!
Romans 7: 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
That rescue is the life that follows Jesus Christ.
The mind set on the spirit is life and peace!
Having our minds transformed by God’s word. Rom 12:2.
Spending time every day focusing your life on God’s word, focusing your heart on God in prayer! That is the foundation of Resurrection life now!
Some say there is no Resurrection!! What is Resurrected?
- Resurrection of relationships
Relationship with God. Jesus dies to pay the debt of our sin. Jesus lives to intercede for us. Why do we need intercession?
Relationships in family: Sin curses family relationships. But the Bible tells us how we are to be in marriage: Helpers suitable, submissive, cooperative, loving as Christ loves, considerate, respectful, willing to yield our personal desires.
Relationships with broader community: Love neighbor as self. Compare with Lamech. Defined by work as men, outward beauty as women= what is it that makes you valuable to people? What makes us valuable to God? When we act out His character!
Some say there is no Resurrection!!
Eat drink and be merry cause tomorrow you may die!
- Resurrection of creation
Way we treat animals and plants.
The way we treat the land. Rivers, oceans, soil etc.
The way we function as gardeners: Order, beauty, improvements, fighting against the curse!
Revelation 11: 18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Some say there is no Resurrection!!
33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God
III. The Future Resurrection
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.
- Not purely a spiritual event
Your Resurrection body will be as similar to Jesus as your earthy body was.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
Jesus bears our image and dies, we bear His image and live!
- You will have a different body
Metaphor of a seed. It looks like one thing. It grows into another. There is no outward similarity. But the seed has incredible potential! Jesus was recognized. Moses and Elijah in Matt 17 were recognized.
- You will have a better body
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
Perishable is exchanged for imperishable
Dishonor is exchanged for glory
Weakness is exchanged for power
Natural is exchanged for spiritual
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Because of the Resurrection from the penalty of sin and the guarantee of a future Resurrection from the presence of sin, we are to live in the power of the Resurrection over the power of sin in our lives now!
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourself fully to God’s kingdom work.
Your labor is not wasted! It is Resurrected!!!
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