Today, the Passover season comes to a close. What a wonderful week of remembering what Christ has done for us. It has been a time of bringing gifts to the Lord and drawing near to Him.
What we started last Friday by observing Good Friday, we end today remembering that He is risen indeed!
John 11:25 (CSB)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
Jesus is talking to Mary in this verse. Lazarus had died and Jesus was four days late, in her mind. But when Jesus is four days late, He is just in time.
And here is why, it was the Father’s will.
John 6:39 (CSB)
39 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day.
What an assurance Jesus gives us. If we are His, we will be raised.
That brings me to the Scripture for today. 1 Corinthians 15
Here is a word cloud of it. Notice how the largest word in this picture is “raised”. That gives you a clue to what this chapter is about. Next is Christ then dead, body, and God. If we take those top five words we can extrapolate the main idea.
This chapter is about Christ being raised from the dead by God and given a glorified body.
Hallelujah!
1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (CSB)
1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand
2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
There is a cross-reference on this that I want to share with you. I think this is something to keep in mind as you are on your lifelong journey with Jesus.
Proverbs 24:16 (CSB)
16 Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.
The gospel is what we stand on… continuing in verse 3…
3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Paul is laying out the facts of the gospel…
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
There are a lot of witnesses that testified that Jesus is alive!
9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
Notice how Paul shifts the glory back to God…
11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.
Regardless of how you got the message the importance is that you received it and believed.
What are the facts?
Paul is going to the worst-case scenario.
1 Corinthians 15:12–19 (CSB)
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.
Your faith is empty, it is useless, that is if there is no resurrection.
15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.
19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
Praise God this is not the case. Christ’s resurrection guarantees ours!
1 Corinthians 15:20–28 (CSB)
20 But as it is, Christ has 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 also comes through a man.
22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive…
Colossians remind us of Jesus’ place.
Colossians 1:18 CSB
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
1 Corinthians 15:20–28 (CSB) …
23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.
27 For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception.
28 When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
Hallelujah, God’s glory will fill the earth.
1 Corinthians 15:29–34 (CSB)
29 Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them?
Paul wasn’t approving this practice. He was just saying it wouldn’t matter.
30 Why are we in danger every hour?
31 I face death every day, as surely as I may boast about you, brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Don’t miss this. Paul’s point is that he would be crazy to risk his life every day for the sake of others if there was no hope in the resurrection.
32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
34 Come to your senses and stop sinning; for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame…
Paul wasn’t writing this to shame you, but to warn you.
Titus 2:12 (CSB)
12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,
Let me go into more detail…
1 Corinthians 6:9–10 (CSB)
9 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,
10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.
Come to your senses…
What is your part in this?
Confess, go and sin no more. Repent and move from unbelief to belief in who God really is and who you are because of what He has done.
…1 Corinthians 15:29–34 (CSB)
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?”
36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
37 And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.
38 But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.
39 Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones.
41 There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; in fact, one star differs from another star in splendor.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;
43 sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power;
44 sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.
47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
48 Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:50–58 (CSB)
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
If we are in Christ we will be changed. How will that happen?
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.
54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory.
55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, 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, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Praise the Lord! We have been freed from the penalty and power of sin.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
We are called to be His witnesses.
- Remember the good news that God loves us and Jesus has made a way to the Father.
- Remember to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way.
- Confess any sin that is holding you back in bondage.
- Go out and be steadfast in the Lord’s work!
