The text this morning is from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the fifteenth chapter:
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 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. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
The Corinthian church was really messed up. We’ve talked about this before. It was a giant mess. One of the worst points of doctrine some were holding to is that there was no resurrection from the dead. You died and that was kind of it. You had been set right with God, and there might be some semblance of what we think of as heaven, but that’s life. There’s no resurrection, there’s just your spirit wandering around. Paul condemned this in the strongest terms; his point is that if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ couldn’t have been raised. In fact, it’s basically as if Paul is saying that the resurrection is the whole reason for Christ’s coming; to raise you from the dead is why Christ raised Himself from the dead first.
Can you imagine how messed up the Corinthian church had to be in order to believe that, by extension of their false beliefs, Christ had not be risen from the dead? I mean, you’ve got Paul, the apostle the Risen Christ sent specifically to you, you’ve got the 500 witnesses that saw Jesus raised from the dead, you’re less than three decades away from the resurrection itself. That’s like saying the Vietnam War never happened. It’s like saying Reagan never said,” Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” It’s like believing that the Challenger never exploded. It’s ridiculous, and these are much smaller events than the resurrection of a dead man.
Yet, Paul doesn’t just make fun of them, the way we do those who deny we landed on the moon in the 60s, but instead points out to them the folly of their logic. The point is, they were criticizing Paul for preaching the resurrection, but not believing it. Paul points out there is no reason why he would preach it if it didn’t happen. Why suffer for a falsehood? Why make up something so unbelievable and ask people to believe it? It’s silly. It’s stupid. More than that, if the resurrection didn’t happen, then everything else is a failure. Everything.
The whole of the Christian life depends on the resurrection of Jesus. Your forgiveness? If Christ is not raised, you are not forgiven. Your salvation? If Christ is not raised, you are not saved. Sanctification? If Christ is not raised, you are not indebted to live a Christian life at all. Abortion? If Christ is not raised, you can kill whoever you want. Homosexuality? If Christ is not raised, you are not to condemn anyone’s behavior for anything. The Lord’s Supper? If Christ is not raised, you are easting only bread and wine. Baptism? If Christ is not raised, you are not washed at all before God. The whole Christian life, all its doctrine, all its teachings, rely on the resurrection of Christ.
Worse than that, though, is that we would be liars. If Paul is preaching the resurrection, and it didn’t happen, then God Himself isn’t real, and we’re just lying to ourselves and to each other for our own benefit somehow. We’d be liars. Think about it. If Christianity isn’t real, what’s the worst thing you could do? It would be to lie to someone trying to lead to what you already know is false. You cut them off from the truth, whatever it might be, if it’s not Christianity.
If there is no God, then the worst thing you can do is mislead another person, and if Paul’s lying then he’s doing just that and it’s awful. If Christ is not raised, Paul is a liar, misrepresenting God, and everyone is just still in their sins, but that wouldn’t really matter anyway. If Paul is a liar, then Christians should be pitied more than anyone because everything they do is of no consequence whatsoever. Their lives, even their suffering, the crucifixions, the tortures, the shipwrecks, whatever it is, it’s all in vain.
But the point is Christ is raised from the dead. He is the firstborn of the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. By His resurrection. You have the promise of the resurrection. This is good news. Let’s put it this way: without the resurrection, the only thing you could know for sure is that Jesus had kinda set you right with God, though not completely. It’s like God was really mad at you, and by Jesus’ death, no resurrection, He wasn’t really happy, but He also wasn’t going to destroy you anymore. Jesus’ death without resurrection is like you went into serious debt, destroyed your credit, lost your house, your wife divorced you, your kids hate you, but then Jesus came in and paid off your debt, settled the score, but now you have to rebuild everything from scratch. That’s what it would be like without the resurrection.
But, with the resurrection of Jesus, we have the promise of resurrection, which is not just the settling of our debt, but the making of all things news. You go into serious debt, destroy your credit, but Jesus comes and pays it off and gives you everything you lost and then some. God was displeased with you and your sin so much that He would destroy you, but then, by the death of Christ, your sin-debt was paid, and by His resurrection, God now is pleased with you as He is pleased with Christ, and He gives you everything He gives His Son. The resurrection is actually even the down payment on the promise of even greater things!
This passage is all about hope. It’s the hope that when God makes us poor, He also gives us the kingdom of God. It’s the hope that when we’re hungry, He shall satisfy us. It’s the hope for when we weep, we shall laugh again. It’s the hope that when people hate you and spurn you and revile you because of Jesus, you will have a greater reward in heaven. That’s the promise of the resurrection. It’s why we need it. Without the resurrection, all hope for the future would be lost and the best we could hope for is just some semblance of normalcy. Instead, our Lord gives us even more than we could dream to ask for. He gives us everything.
And to those who think they have everything now, to those who think they’re their own gods, or their doctrines dispute the doctrines of God Himself, Jesus has words of warning. He tells them to turn from their false idols, the false doctrines, and turn to the truth, because it is the resurrection which will them whole, complete them, turn them away from themselves and turn towards serving others.
This is our warning, too, that we should have the resurrection firmly in mind, firmly in heart, that we should keep our eyes on Jesus, the one who feeds us, waters us, makes us strong. This He does by His resurrection, for without it, we are lost forever, and there is no fruit, no good, we will bear. We will be dry and empty without the resurrection, tinder, chaff to be burned away. But with the resurrection, with our eyes firmly planted on the fact that our Lord will return at the end of the world and shall raise us and all others who believe in Him and welcome us into eternal life, we can see the good of this life. We see how our suffering produces even good works among us as we seek to honor our Lord in His work by working for those for whom Christ died and rose.
The hope of the resurrection is everything. Without it, it’s all lost. Without the resurrection, there’s no point to life at all. But with it, the point of this life is to receive all that our Lord would give us and all that He has given us that we might bring others with us as well. And one day, we shall open our eyes and see our Lord standing before us, having dug out our grave, and we shall stand with those He loves, those whom we served and preached to and brought into the faith, and we shall live with them, with Him, with Christ forever. That’s the resurrection hope, that’s the resurrection promise. Keep in central, keep it always. It’s that important. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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