(Part 2)
“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”-1 Corinthians 15:1-4
How, after seeing and experiencing everything they had witnessed, could they go on living as if there was no resurrection? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fundamental component of the Good News that Jesus commissioned us to preach.
In fact, without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no gospel. Without the real, physical resurrection of the dead body of Jesus, everything we believe is a lie:
“But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”-1 Corinthians 15:12-19
There were believers in Paul’s day falling into the same trap as the disciples of Jesus day. Jesus’ disciples had witnessed His crucifixion, they had witnessed His burial, but they had not yet witnessed His resurrection and so they went on living as if there wasn’t going to be one.
The believers in Paul’s day received the Good News. They believed in Jesus’ death, Jesus’ burial and Jesus’ resurrection; however, they they had not experienced their own yet, so they went on living as if there wasn’t going to be one.
Paul’s emphatic point to them was this: Jesus was resurrected, so you could be too:
“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.”-1 Corinthians 15:20-23
Are you living like there is a resurrection in your future? Are you living like Jesus is coming back? Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection were both spiritual and physical. So is ours. When we place our faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection we experience it spiritually first and later we will experience physically. There is a resurrection in your future:
“Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.”-John 5:28-29
Those who have received Christ will be raised to experience eternal life and those who have rejected Him will be raised to eternal judgment. We are all going to experience a resurrection. Which one are you living for?
Pastor Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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