Why the resurrection matters!

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Very good to have those helpers. Mums and dads keep your Bible open there to 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to focus in a little deeper on the resurrection of Jesus and unpack why it matters. We need to understand that just as the kids have grasped it. Let's just pause quickly to pray. Lord God, we just want to thank you so much for the joy of this Resurrection Sunday. Thank you that you have given us your Word. Thank you for the many eyewitnesses who were there who attested these things. Thank you that Jesus lived, that he died in a time and in a place that can be investigated. Lord, help us as we unpack your Word this morning to grasp the importance, that central idea of why the resurrection matters for our faith. What it means for all eternity, but Lord, what it means for our lives right now. We ask your help by your spirit to do just that. In Jesus' name, amen. The Apostle Paul sets out pretty clearly for us in this letter to the Corinthians just how important the resurrection it is. It's like those things we showed up with the kids. There are some things that are just so important that really matter. If you take it away, it changes everything. Paul is convinced that the resurrection is one of those things. It's a pivotal event on which the whole of the Christian faith hangs. It's so vital. In fact, it's so critical to Christianity that Paul's view is that the whole thing fails over. It doesn't work if you take the resurrection away. It's like a hinge on which the whole of the Christian faith hangs. One Bible commentator explained it like this. He says, without faith in the resurrection, there would not be any Christianity at all. The Christian church would never have begun. The Jesus movement would have fizzled out like a wet firework at his, that's Jesus' execution. Christianity stands or falls with the truth of the resurrection. Once you disprove it and you have disposed of Christianity, it's that important. It's central to our faith and it's the reason why we celebrate today. Let's have a little look at what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 15 from verses 13 to 19. He says, if there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God. For we've testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if, in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ hasn't been raised either. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. If you are still in your sins, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied. Of all people, we are most to be pitied. It's pretty clear, isn't it? Paul's view, the resurrection matters so much so that if you take it away, if it's not true, if there's no such thing as the resurrection, then it all falls apart. And Christians, those who are holding out that hope of Jesus' promise of eternity, of being right with God, were to be pitied above all others because it all falls apart if there's no resurrection from the dead. That was a particular issue at the time that Paul was writing to address. There were some that were claiming to be believers of Jesus, but they kind of weren't sure about this whole resurrection thing. The fact that Jesus had promised to come back, that one day we too would be raised. And Paul writes to address this issue, and he says, guys, this is such a key issue. Jesus did rise. There is a resurrection of the dead, and we could be assured of that. We need to be assured of that because it matters. You follow the argument, don't you, from verses 13 to 19 there? If you deny it, if you take it away, there's some pretty heavy consequences that insure. It's a logical consequence that follows, and Paul kind of lists them all out in the negative. He kind of gives you the, if there's no resurrection scenario, he's kind of giving us the hypothetical and showing us logically what this would mean if it wasn't true. Let's have a little look at that this morning. If there's no resurrection, then the Christian message is useless. If Christ is not raised, verses 14 to 15 there, Paul says, preaching about the gospel, sharing the good news of Jesus' life, his death, his resurrection for our sins, well, that is just wasted air. It means nothing if Jesus didn't rise from the dead. It's unnecessary. In actual fact, it's a bit like playing soccer without the ball. It's like playing cricket without a bat. It's like driving the car or trying to drive the car with no wheels. You're not going to get anywhere. Paul's point here is that the whole of the Christian message is useless. It's in vain if Christ is not raised. There's no story there. It's not worth telling. It's not worth sharing. That's his point. If there's no resurrection, then the Christian message is useless. The second thing he says is that if there's no resurrection, then our faith, those of us who hope and trust in Jesus, who've put our hope in Him, our faith is in vain. If Christ is not raised in verse 14 and verse 17, we see a hint of that. The Christian faith depends on the gospel having legs, being true. What is the gospel? We are in church. We often hear that a lot. Maybe you're here for the first time this morning. It's the first time you're hearing this word gospel. It's just the good news about Jesus, about His life, His death, His resurrection for our sins. It was a technical term that they understood in this particular day and age. The gospel was the terms of peace from a conquering king that would often get sent back with a messenger from a victorious army that had just conquered another town, another region, and they would send back this terms of peace, this gospel message. Jesus takes this technical term and He reappropriates it. And He starts preaching about the gospel from God, terms of peace from the God who made us, a way for humanity who had rebelled, who had gone our own way, who wanted to be our own gods and said no to the God who made us. This was His term of peace for us to be made right with Him, and it came with Jesus. Jesus came onto the scene. He entered into human history. He took on flesh. He became human and yet was still fully God. It's a mystery. And yet Jesus lives this earth as a sinless human man. He lives the way that God had intended us to live in right relationship with Him. Jesus modeled that for us and then He willingly went to that cross so that He could pay the price, take the punishment for our sin so that we could be right with God. That's the good news. That's the gospel. And Paul summarizes that for us in this little Christian creed that was passed down to him. It was popular at the time. Bible scholars, both Christian and secular scholars who've studied these things, they kind of date this early Christian creed, this summary of the gospel that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 to 5 there. They date that as early as maybe a couple of years after Jesus' death and resurrection. It would have been shared around the believers. This was their gospel that they were holding on to. This was the good news. And so by this stage now, the churches has formed. There's churches all over the place. It's still within probably one generation of Jesus' death and resurrection. There's still eyewitnesses who were there that saw it happen. And Paul gives them this summary of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 to 4. Listen to what he says. He says, Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you believed in vain. And essentially the prelude to all of that is Paul reminding them this is what you were saved by. This is the good news. This is what you're holding on to in hope. Hang on to this. Believe this because this is crucial. This is key. And here it is. This is the gospel. Verse 3, For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. That's it. That's Paul's summary of the gospel. The good news. Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It was always God's plan. It wasn't a mistake. It wasn't an afterthought. It was prophesied. Hundreds of years in advance of Jesus arriving on the scene. God had told his people. He had told humanity that he would send a savior. Jesus arrives and fulfills all of those prophecies. And then Jesus died. He was buried. He actually died. Crucified by the Romans. Verified that he was dead. They buried him in a tomb and then he rose again on the third day again. Not by mistake, not by accident, not some random happy chance, but God's sovereign plan. He was always going to rise. Friends, our Christian faith depends on the gospel. If that's a sham, if this is not true, if Jesus didn't die, if he didn't really arise from the dead, this whole thing falls apart. Paul says our faith is useless. It's a waste. Why? Well, the third thing we see in verse 17. It's because if Christ isn't raised, we remain unforgiven. The sin problem is not dealt with if Jesus didn't rise. Because Jesus rising from the dead actually validates and vindicates everything that he claimed about himself. To be the sinless Savior, to be the Son of God, to be the Messiah, the one who'd come to take away our sins. Jesus didn't rise. We've got no way of verifying that these things are true. It's getting increasingly serious. Paul is painting this picture that it's utterly crucial. We've got to connect the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. We need Good Friday, but we need Easter Sunday. The whole of it together forms this picture of the gospel. If Christ is not raised, then his death accomplished nothing for the forgiveness of our sins. Pastor Doug spoke about that on Friday when he looked at our desperate condition, the problem that all mankind faces, and that's the sin problem. The fact that we want to go our own way, the fact that we thumb our nose at God, that we say, no, I want to live my life my way. I don't have to follow your way. I think I can figure out what's best. We're all guilty of it. And sin, the Bible tells us, separates us from God who is holy and just. And if there's no resurrection, then Paul says we're unforgiven. We stand completely condemned before God. And as such, it's not good news because we remain stuck in our sin. Paul understood that the death of Christ was and is the basis of our forgiveness and our way of being made right with God. When he wrote to the Romans in Romans chapter five, verses eight and nine, Paul says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we've now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? Justified by his blood, it's just a technical way of saying it's just as if like we didn't sin. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, God looks at us not through the lens of our sin, but through the lens of love and grace, through the sacrifice of his own son, so that we might live. Paul tells us that Christ's death paid the debt that we owed to God. It frees us from our sin, and it's the only way we can have right standing with God. The resurrection is the proof or the validation that Jesus' death was sufficient to cover all our sins. We need it, because it helps us to understand that we are forgiven. If Christ isn't raised, if there is no resurrection, well, then it gets even worse. Death is just the end. Paul points out that without the resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in Christ, that's just a polite way from back then of saying those who have passed away, those who have died, those who have fallen asleep in Christ. He's talking about people who have fallen asleep, who have passed away with a belief in Jesus as the Messiah, a belief in the good news. People are saying if there is no resurrection, then even if you've died believing in Jesus, well, you're lost. Death is just the end. There's nothing else. It's not only falling asleep and waking to see the face of Jesus and knowing the joy of His presence. No, death is just a hard confirmation of our lostness. That's what is the reality if Christ was not raised. Death is just the end. Not only that, it means that there's no judgment, no justice if death is just the end. There's no lasting hope that goes beyond the grave. I think that's really sad when you think about it, because I reckon most of us go through our lives with something that we never got justice for. It can be there. It doesn't have to be a really major thing. Sometimes it can be. It's the reality of living in a sinful, fallen world. Life is cruel and hard and sometimes unfair. That's why we need the gospel to be true, because it promises us that one day Christ will set all of these things right, that He will come again. And the Bible tells us that Jesus has been appointed as the judge of the living and the dead. And when He comes again, everything will be brought to light that was hidden. Everything that was wrong will be made right. While that might be a fearful day for those who choose to reject God, those of us that have our hope in Him, that's going to be a glorious day, because we get to stand before our Savior, knowing that there's nothing that we could have ever done that could save us from our sin, but He's going to look on us and welcome us in for all eternity. Paul says that there's no resurrection from the dead. Well, then there goes that hope. There goes the promise of justice if death is just the end. Again, it all hinges on the resurrection. It all hinges on the claims of Jesus in the Scriptures. And as we told the kids earlier, if Jesus didn't rise, how can we believe anything that He said? Because one of the key claims of Jesus was that He would die and rise again. He spoke openly to His disciples about His death and resurrection. He told them He was going to be rejected by the elders and suffer at the hands of the chief priests and the scribes. He taught how He would be killed, and then three days later He would rise again. The resurrection didn't happen. Well, then it calls into question the veracity of Jesus' claims. If it was wrong about that, the resurrection, if He didn't rise and He got that wrong, well, then what else that He said did He get wrong as well? What about the promise that He will come again? Well, that's out of the window now if His promise to rise never eventuated. You could track that logically through, and you'd struggle to believe anything that He said. It would all be looking rather hopeless, which is why Paul kind of gets to the bottom of his logical argument here in verse 19, and he says, if you take away the resurrection, then us Christians, we who've put our hope and faith and trust in Jesus, then we are to be pitied above all else. Because there's nothing left. It's a rather sorry picture. Thankfully, that's not the end of Paul's thinking. Look at verse 20. He says, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who've fallen asleep. Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. It's wonderful good news. This is why we celebrate today. It's why we wear the colored shirts because Jesus is alive. He rose up out of that grave. And more than that, it's good news because Jesus was actually a real person who lived in a real time and a place in history. And so that means we've got evidence of His life. We've got accounts of His ministry, of His death, and we've got eyewitness accounts of His resurrection. Listen again to those few verses from the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15. Look at verses three to five. We read some of those again. I don't think we read verse five before. Paul says, what I've received, I've passed on to you as of first importance. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Paul says, what I've received from eyewitnesses, what I've been told from others, the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, I'm now passing on to you. Christ died. He was buried and He did rise again. But then look at verse five. Notice he begins this list of witnesses that come next. He says, and he appeared to Cephas. That's Peter, the disciple. And then to the twelfth. After that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time. Most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Some have died. But most are still living. 500 people who saw Him at the one time, risen from the dead. Just by reference, our auditorium probably holds about 300. So at another 200 on top of that, all at the same time. Then verse seven, he appeared to James, then to the apostles. Lastly, he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born. Paul gives us this whole laundry list of eyewitnesses to the resurrection. Peter first, then the 12 disciples, the 500 people who claimed to see Him at the same time. Important that Paul mentioned some of those people are still alive when he's writing this letter. So they could have been asked or challenged about whether it was true. He lists James, the brother of Jesus, which I always find interesting, because we know from the Gospel accounts that James didn't always believe. I mean, imagine how it was growing up with a half-brother who believed he was the son of God. In the beginning, James and some of Jesus' other siblings, they thought he was crazy. In Mark chapter three, you could read about that, or Matthew 13, or John 7. But then something radical happens that convinces James and Jude, the brother of Jesus, that Jesus was who he claimed to be. Something happened to change these brothers from thinking Jesus was a nutter and out of his mind to James actually claiming that Jesus was his Lord. Just think about that for a moment. It's mind-blowing. Imagine if your brother tried to convince you that he was your Lord, or that he was the son of God. What would it take for your brother to convince you that this was true? It'd be a big ask. Josephus, who's a Jewish historian in the first century, he tells us that James believed that Jesus was Lord right up until he was martyred for this belief. James would be dragged outside the city walls and stoned to death for his belief that his brother Jesus was actually his Lord. What changed? To go from thinking Jesus was a lunatic to believing that he was a Lord, James encountered the risen Jesus. Paul mentions the apostles in verse 7 there, and we know their story. When Jesus was arrested and put on trial, they fled for their lives. Peter denies Jesus. The disciples are scattered. Later in John chapter 20, you could read that on that first Easter Sunday in the evening, the apostles are gathered in a room behind a locked door. They're scared of the Jewish authorities because they'd lost their leader. They'd lost their rabbi, their teacher, their friend. They weren't sure what was going to happen next. And so they're afraid. And yet Jesus appears amongst them. And they go from frightened followers to a bunch of bold proclaimers who launched the birth of the early church. You read all about that in the book of Acts. And every one of them, bar one, bar John, who ended up exiled on an island in his old age, all of the others were martyred for their faith. Not because of what they were saying about Jesus, not because they're faith in Jesus, but because of what they were saying about his resurrection. This was the sticking point, and it's phenomenal. Paul adds himself to the end of this list of eyewitnesses. And we know that from the other letters and Luke's account in the book of Acts, that Paul had this encounter with Jesus, a personal encounter with the risen Jesus about two years after his resurrection. Paul went from a hater of Jesus, a persecutor of Christians. He was rounding them up, put them in jail, and worse. And he went from that to this bold proclaimer, this missionary man who's on fire and wants to share the good news of Jesus. All of that happened is because people encountered the risen Lord. It's evidence. We should thank God for that. It means that we can investigate. We can explore the claims of Jesus. We can read about his life. We can examine what he said. I mentioned some prophecies earlier. There's hundreds of prophecies about Jesus. It houses a historical religion. Its claims are to be investigated. One of the commentators said, Christianity is a historical religion. It claims that God has taken the risk of involving himself in human history, and the facts are there for you to examine with the utmost of vigor. They will stand any amount of critical investigation. It's true. You can't walk away from the evidence. We've got to consider it. Consider the resurrection. Paul's convinced there's proof. It happened. Christ indeed has been raised from the dead. And so, just quickly then, the positives will fly through these real quick. Jesus' identity and his claims are validated. We can read that in verses 54 to 57 of 1 Corinthians 15. He says, 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. What Paul's pointing to here is, again, another prophecy. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. He's claimed to be the sinless Savior, fulfilled. Hundreds of prophecies that Jesus' resurrection validates. And there was a prophecy that death would one day be defeated. It death is defeated, Paul says in verse 55. Where oh death is your victory? Where oh death is your sting? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, he gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's true because Jesus rose. And because of that, we know that we are forgiven. That's good news. That's why we celebrate. Jesus' death was sufficient for our sins. And so therefore, our faith is well founded. It's not something that we're just hanging on to like a crutch. It's not something we hold on to or hope out for because there's nothing else that we can think about. No, this is the truth. This is the good news. If you put your faith in Jesus, he won't let you down. He will make peace with God the Father for you. He will always be with you in this life. He will bring you into the eternal presence of God, even if that is through the door of death. He'll do all those things and more because he's promised that he will. The death of Jesus proves his love for us and the resurrection of Jesus proves his power over the enemy of life. Jesus is alive and can be trusted. Our faith is well founded. Our faith then, because of the resurrection, it's a message worth sharing. It is good news. I mean, you have good news. It's only good news if it's worth sharing, right? Usually, that's the Christian faith. I guess that's where we come to this morning in our closing as we've examined this resurrection and why it matters. You've got to personalize that. How does it matter to you? Does it matter to you this Easter Sunday? Maybe you're here and it's just a bit indifferent. You're not really sure if you care about it. Respectfully, I'm not sure how you can be indifferent to this. This is amazing as standing news. But maybe there's questions still. Maybe you're still processing it. Maybe there's still a few things that you'd like to have squared away. You're not quite sure about. I would encourage you to keep investigating that. Keep examining the claims of Jesus so that you can decide how you feel about him and what you think about this whole resurrection thing. I'd encourage you to ask somebody who knows Jesus, maybe somebody that you came with this morning, ask me or Doug or Dylan, anybody that you know that believes this stuff, we'd love to talk to you about it. If you'd like to find out more, come in May starting from May 18. Join us over those three Sunday afternoons from 4 p.m. as we look at that Hope Explored course. This is three sessions all about discovering real hope in Jesus. If you're not sure, come and ask you questions there. Come and examine the evidence. Discover who Jesus is. If you're here today this morning, friends, and you understand who Christ is, you know what his resurrection means. Then I hope that today is just another day that you're encouraged by the love of our Savior, by the power of our God to defeat death and by the hope that we have in him. Hallelujah. Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for the hope that is ours in Jesus. And Lord, this is a real hope that's founded in history, in a person, in a man, in a time, in a place. The Lord Jesus who came and entered into human history so that he might bring about the salvation for all who would believe. Father, we pray that you'd help us to grasp the significance of the resurrection and why it matters to us. Not just for our eternity, for our eternal destiny, but Lord, how the resurrection matters and has the power to change our lives forever, even today. How it can give us a hope and a joy and a peace and a purpose through understanding what Christ has won for us on the cross. Thank you, Father, for the resurrection and for the hope that we have because Jesus is alive. Amen.