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Apr 08, 2012

Yesterday's & Today's Resurrections

Passage: 1 Corinthians 15

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: I Corinthians

Category: Road to the Cross

Keywords: resurrection, new life, hope, practical living

Summary:

What difference would it make practically to your life and Christian experience if we took the resurrection of Jesus out of the church calendar or biblical theology? This message looks at the significance and impact Jesus' bodily resurrection did and can have on our lives on a daily basis.

Detail:

Resurrections Yesterday & Today

I Corinthians 15

Easter, April 8, 2012

 

Q:  What practical difference would it make to you if Easter were dropped from the calendar?

Well, I don’t know exactly what would happen to you, but I’ve got a hunch what might happen to a few folks.  (Pictures)

  • Some people probably wouldn’t have to join Weight Watchers.  According to a 2009 Nielsen report, nearly 71 million pounds of chocolate candy are sold in the week leading up to Easter, 20 million more pounds than Valentine’s Day.
  • For some communities would have one less legal nightmare to worry about.  Cities from Georgia to Colorado have cancelled their annual Easter Egg Hunts due to…stampeding parents!  Yup.  It’s not the kids who are getting out of hand but the parents who are pushing and shoving so much that kids are getting hurt! 
  • Some kids might be happier and have fewer psychological problems as children!  (Scared kids with Easter Bunny)
  • Some animals...and people…would definitely be happier. 
  • Some rabbits might be happier!  (Poster with dog and bunny ears; chocolate bunny card joke)

 

But back to our question stated in a slightly different form:  What practical difference would it make to you if the resurrection of Jesus had never happened?  How much would it really change your experience with God?  How much would it alter your theology?  Would it really matter to you that much? 

 

A few weeks ago we left our study of I Corinthians with one chapter untouched—chapter 15.  It’s the Bible’s primary resurrection chapter.  And it’s BIG!  Not just big size-wise.  It’s BIG theologically.  It’s BIG practically speaking for the early church.  It’s big for everything we hold dear in Christianity. 

 

Read I Cor. 15:1-11

Paul is telling is in no uncertain terms that the bodily death, bodily burial and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is of primary importance to every Christian.  It is the core of the gospel.  Without it, we have no Gospel.  Without belief in these “first-things,” these “primary things” of the Gospel, we are not talking about the Good News of the Bible…nor can we call ourselves true Christians. 

 

This morning I’d like us to look at just how important the resurrection of Jesus was and is for 2 different time-frames:  past and present.

 

Why is it SO important that the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually happened in history 2,000 years ago?

 

Before we answer that question, let me clarify something about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

            When we talk about Jesus’ resurrection, we are not talking about what happened to Lazarus in John 11.  Strictly speaking, Lazarus’ returning from the dead after 4-5 days of being physically dead (Jn. 11:39).  Lazarus was “raised from the dead,” but it was NOT like the resurrection of Jesus.  Life was infused into his body after rigormortis had set in.  His heart started pumping and his blood started flowing.  He was miraculously “raised from the dead.”  But it was not a resurrection.

            In Luke 7:11ff when we read that Jesus met the funeral procession of the son of the widow from the village of Nain and spoke to that young man in the coffin saying, “Young man…get up!”, this kid came back to life.  But it was not a resurrection.

            The same can be said for the synagogue ruler Jairus’s only daughter who died as we read in Luke 8:40ff.  Jesus raised her back to life…but it was not a resurrection.

 

ALL those people went on to die again.  Their bodies were all re-buried in graves and tombs.  Their families all mourned their passing again. 

 

But when we talk about the resurrection of Jesus, we are talking about more than just “coming back to life.”  When Jesus was resurrected 3 days after his gruesome death on the cross, he had a “resurrection body.” 

It was a body that never died again…nor will ever die.

It was a body that was “incorruptible”.  It will never get sick, never wear out, never get arthritis, joint pain or have to have a hip replacement.

It was a body that could come and go with the speed of light.  It could appear in a room without having to open a door.  It could disappear from a dinner table in an instant and reappear at a breakfast fish-bake at the Sea of Galilee (John 20:26-21:14).     

 

NO ONE in human history has ever had this kind of resurrection body…because no one has ever experienced this kind of resurrection.  That’s why Jesus is called the “firstfruits”—I Cor. 15:20. 

In addition to having the characteristics I just mentioned, here are a couple of other realities about “resurrection” bodies. 

  • They look like normal human bodies and engage in some of the normal, daily human activities such as eating, talking, walking, etc.
  • They are both recognizable and unrecognizable.  Mt. 28:17—“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.  When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”  Luke 24:13ff—two on the road to Emmaus.  Eyes opened when Jesus broke bread at dinner with them.
  • At least in Jesus’ case, the nail holes in his hands and feet and spear wound in the side were still evident though not painful, debilitating or detracting.  John 20:24ff.  Either Jesus is one-or-a-kind in that his resurrection body bore marks of his suffering & death for us OR, it is possible that somehow in eternity, the sufferings people have endured in Christ in time will be telltale signs of triumph and victory in eternity?  [I’m not saying that Christians who have endured physical defects or been maimed or beheaded will be resurrected with those defects or losses.  Quite the contrary. Our bodies will certainly be “perfect” in that there will not be the problems of weakness, illness, disease or inabilities that will ever hinder us as these bodies do. 

 

Now let’s come back to the question at hand:  What difference does it make whether Jesus actually, bodily rose from the dead?  Check out I Cor. 15:12-13.  Here is the first problem.

1.  If Jesus was not raised bodily from the dead, then we are following THE world’s worst liars…or, at best, a lunatic. 

The problem is, Jesus talked about and predicted his resurrection multiple times, according to the historical record of the Gospels (a record, by the way, that stands out as stellar, unmatched and unparalleled in its historical reliability among ancient history documents).  Let me show you an example from each Gospel.

  • Matthew 27:62ff records that Jesus’ claim that he would rise from the dead was well known among even his enemies. “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”  65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. (See Mt. 26:31, 32 for an example of Jesus’ own claims.)
  • Mark 9:30f-- 30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
  • Luke 18:31-34--31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”  34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
  • John 2:18-22-- 18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”  19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

 

So, plain and simple, Jesus was either one big liar and he knew it OR he was un poco loco—crazy, and a lunatic.  This is the argument put forth by the famous British writer and apologist C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity.   He wrote,

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”

 

Paul understood that and said as much in I Cor. 15:13.  If there is no such thing as a real resurrection of people from the dead, then Jesus (being a real person) couldn’t have risen from the dead.  And if that was the case, they we don’t have a savior on our hands; we have a huge liar or lunatic. 

 

2.  If Jesus was not raised bodily from the dead, then every New Testament book and author is also a fraud. 

I Cor. 15:14—“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless….” 

It is interesting that virtually every single N.T. author and almost every N.T. book refers directly to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Even the one book we don’t know for certain who wrote it, The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 13:20, speaks of Jesus’ resurrection. 

            So, IF this whole resurrection thing is a bunch of lies, then every N.T. human author is a liar and every N.T. book cannot be trusted. 

 

Listen to what Paul says about this further in 15:14-19. 

14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 

One final difference “no resurrection” would have in history:  Every single one of the hundreds of millions of believers in Christ throughout the centuries are truly “lost”—they put their trust in a lie and not only lived life on the wrong foundation;  they are worse off than every other religious person because they followed that lie right into eternity, an eternity that is NOT what Jesus said it would be and therefore must be something they are totally unprepared for.  In other words, Christianity is a very, very bad hoax if Jesus did not rise from the dead. 

 

Which brings us to the PRESENT.  What difference does the historical fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus make to the present?  This leads us back to the initial question I posed today: 

What practical difference would it make to you if Easter were dropped from the calendar? Or another way of saying that is, what difference would it make to your daily, week-by-week, year-by-year experience of life and God if we didn’t need to believe in Christ’s resurrection to have put our faith in God?  Couldn’t we just drop this whole resurrection idea and hang onto the rest of the truths of Christianity and still be Christians?

 

First, look at how Paul said his own life would have changed if there was no resurrection of Jesus.  15:29ff-- 29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

 

Meaning of vs. 29—while it is possible that Paul could be referring to some sort of proxy baptism in which someone was baptized for some other believer who had died but not been baptized, I don’t think it is likely.  That unbiblical practice didn’t appear until the 2nd century of the church and only among the Gnostics (who were more heretical than orthodox).  It is more likely, I think, that Paul is saying, “Why baptize people…new believers in Jesus who are taking the place of Christians who have died…if there is no resurrection?”

 In essence Paul says, “Hey, there is no reason to go to all the trouble of preaching the gospel and winning the next generation of Christ-followers if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.” First thing that should change without Jesus’ resurrection:  don’t bother sharing your faith with other or trying to make disciples of other people, be they your own children or best friends. 

APP:  Maybe this is why so few of us are as passionate about making disciples of the next generation as Paul and the other first century Christians were:  we functionally don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus and therefore we don’t actually believe much is at stake if people don’t become Christians. 

 

Paul goes on.  30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

   “Let us eat and drink,
   for tomorrow we die.”

Here’s another interesting statement:  “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with nor more than human hopes, what have I gained?”  Paul is probably speaking, not of actual fighting with wild animals as happened in the coliseum at Rome, but metaphorically about the fighting he did at Ephesus with people opposed to the Gospel. 

ILL:  We might say today of someone who is super-strong and just keeps going no matter what, “He’s a beast!”  We understand, of course, that he’s not actually a wild boar…or a grizzly bear.  So in Paul’s day, this saying probably meant that he did battle spiritually in Ephesus as if it were a fight to the finish, without giving up. 

            His point is that if Jesus wasn’t resurrected, he’s been a fool to risk his life day after day for the gospel.  Without the resurrection of Christ and our own future resurrection, Christianity is just a religion of “human hopes”—hopes for a little better life here and now…better relationships, more love, less guilt…but no real substance.  Paul says living the life of a hedonist makes a lot more sense in a no-resurrection universe than living the life of a self-sacrificing follower of Jesus who is willing to give their very life so others will find Christ. 

 

There is one other very important change that a no-resurrection God would have upon us right here, right now.  Paul talks about it in both Romans and Philippians.  First go to Romans 4:18ff.

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

            Faith has always been the one indispensable element God has required of anyone who wants a relationship with Him.  He required it of Adam and Eve in the Garden…and they at first failed to believe Him.  That’s why they ate the fruit. 

            He required it of Abraham…and he triumphed.  He held onto faith when the facts of life said, “Not going to happen.  You’re too old.  Your wife is too old.  Both your bodies are as good as dead when it comes to having children…even one child.”  BUT Abraham was “fully persuaded that God” both had the power to do what he promised he would and would, in fact, do it. 

            You see, this whole idea of life despite death, life out of death, has been something God knows requires faith in what He has said will happen.  Abraham’s every-day life for years of barrenness was dramatically altered because of His faith in the God of the resurrection.

            The writer of Hebrews picks that same fact about Abraham up when he speaks about how he offered up Isaac, the one and only child that fulfilled God’s promise of offspring. 

Hebrews 11:17-19--17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

            Belief in the God who brings life out of death informed and enabled the most important faith decisions Abraham ever made.  He believed in a God who was more powerful than death.  He believed in the God who would make the humanly impossible possible through bringing life out of people and situations that looked like they were hopelessly dead. 

 

That is why I think Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings….” 

Paul understood that the God’s resurrection power goes hand-in-hand oftentimes with suffering for following God’s call and commands.  If you want to experience and see God’s amazing resurrection power, you’ll have to let God lead you through things that look like they are as good as dead. 

Ever believed God gave you a calling to be or do something and then all that seemed to happen for years was…nothing?  Or worse yet, negative things…suffering...death of a dream…or a relationship?  It can happen with a calling God has put on your life.  It can happen with a marriage God has given you that seems to have died.  It can happen with a relationship with a son or daughter, a good friend, even the people of God. 

If you don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus, you won’t believe in resurrection power.  And if you don’t believe that you serve the God who brings life out of death, then you won’t walk by faith when the things or people that you cherish and long for don’t materialize the way you thought they would. 

 

ILL & APP:  Sometimes a husband or wife whose marriage is on the rocks for any number of reasons will ask me, “Have you ever seen a marriage recover from this?”  Or they may say, “Do you really think there is any hope for my marriage.”  And I say the same thing every time:  YES!  If I didn’t believe that our God is the God of the resurrection, I would not be in the ministry.  I would not be fighting for your marriage and asking you to do the same.  I would not be trying to help people recover from the loss of a child or a career or a reputation or any number of life’s tragedies.  But I DO believe in the God of the resurrection… and that’s why I’m still in the ministry.

 

APP:  Some of you may not know what I’m talking about.  Let me just say, “Give it time.  Live long enough and you will see how much you need the only God of the resurrection.” 

Others of you know exactly what I’m talking about.  You’re there right now.  You’ve all but lost hope…or maybe you have lost all hope. 

God is saying to you today, “I AM the God of the resurrection.  I AM the God of the living, not the dead.  I DO want you to experience “the power of my Son’s resurrection.”  But you will have to wait for me to act.  You will have to put up with a little temporal death in order to experience some really eternal resurrection.”

 

ILL:  I’ve asked Dave and Becky Lott to share today a bit of their personal journey with life and with the God of the resurrection. Maybe you need to see and hear first hand that God really does have the power to change something or someone you think is hopelessly lost.  So listen with the ears of your soul today. 

 

CLOSE: 

  • Call to put your faith in the God of the resurrection by believing what Jesus said about the resurrection, about you and about your need to believe in Him.  John 11:25, 26—Jesus said to Martha when she was grieving the death of her brother Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believers in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?” 
  • Call to those needing to experience the resurrection power of God in some relationship, some calling, some hope or dream, some promise of God.