Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-22.

Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.

1. “There’s an old story, very effective though seldom quoted today, of a conversation between Charles Maurice Talleyrand, the prime minister of France, and the French philosopher, M. Lepeaux, who invented a new religion that, in his judgment, was superior to Christianity. M. Lepeaux sought from the prime minister a revolutionary way to spread his new dynamic religion. Without hesitation Talleyrand replied, ‘I shall recommend that you have yourself crucified and on the third day rise from the dead.’” — Rev. R.C. Sonefeld, Preaching the Funeral Homily. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2000, Resource Publications, Inc.
   

Skeptics have denied it. Doubters have questioned it. Scoffers have ignored it. Philosophers have tried to explain it away. Yet, the existence of the Church today testifies to its reality. The resurrection of Jesus the Christ transformed a group of frightened Jews into the most powerful force seen in human history.

It amazes me to hear people today say, “We know Jesus didn’t rise again. Since we know more than the ancients, superstitious nonsense like a resurrection doesn’t sway us. We know today that dead people stay dead.” This arrogant nonsense assumes that first-century subjects of the Roman Empire believed in Jesus’ resurrection because they didn’t know better. Any decent study of history will demonstrate the fallacy of these statements. The ancients knew full well that dead people stayed dead.

St. Paul encountered this rebuttal of the Resurrection in Corinth. Some of the Corinthians had begun harassing the church there for believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Perhaps some of the members themselves, embarrassed by the seemingly impossibility of the Resurrection, tried to spiritualize it or explain it in a way that would remove the intellectual stigma from their participation in the Church.

As he answered other questions posed by the Corinthians, St. Paul also answered the objections to the Resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 provides the longest discourse on the Resurrection you’ll find in Scripture. As we prepare to enter Lent, the season of preparation for Easter, 1 Corinthians 15 reminds us why we celebrate Easter. Christians, we serve a risen Lord whose resurrection brought redemption and hope to humanity. We must never compromise on the reality of the Resurrection.

First, St. Paul reminded the Corinthians of the reason we cannot deny the physical resurrection of Jesus: “ I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” Christian, the Resurrection is the gospel of Christ! The gospel revolves around the physical resurrection of Jesus. We cannot experience salvation without belief in a risen Jesus. “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Our salvation rests solely on the Resurrection. Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins; His death redeems us from the penalty of sin. In the Garden, God told Adam and Eve, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” As we know, they ate, and we died. Their rebellion spread throughout their descendants, including St. Paul, the Corinthians to whom he wrote, and us today.

However, Isaiah foretold that Christ, the Messiah and Suffering Servant, “was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace” (Isaiah 53:5). The author of Hebrews said that Christ “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:12). Due to our acceptance of His sacrifice for our sins, St. Paul would later write to the Roman believers, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). St. Paul said, “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).

The Resurrection, St. Paul reminded the Corinthians, did not occur in a vacuum. “[Jesus] appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” Did you notice the number St. Paul mentioned? More than 500 people saw Jesus after His resurrection. You can hear St. Paul’s unspoken challenge: “More than 500 people saw Jesus, most of whom still live. Look them up!” St. Paul would later remind Herod Agrippa II in the same way: “...the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner” (Acts 26:26).

In something of an afterthought, St. Paul placed himself in the list of witnesses, “as to one untimely born.” St. Paul called himself “the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle,” because he “persecuted the church of God.” St. Paul knew grace because he had experienced it: “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, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”

St. Paul then directly confronted the deniers of the Resurrection. “ 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 cannot believe in any resurrection if Christ Himself did not rise from the dead.

Nor does it help to “spiritualize” His resurrection. “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.” If God did not raise Jesus, and St. Paul (a God-fearing Jew) had made this claim, he had lied about his God. In effect, the Apostles and other witnesses to the Resurrection had broken the commandment about bearing a “false witness” against Almighty God.

It grew worse. “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.” No resurrection, according to St. Paul, meant no forgiveness of sins.

Believing in a nonexistent resurrection meant believing a lie. In St. Paul’s words, believing a lie meant “we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Fortunately for us, “In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Notice this important implication of St. Paul’s words. Jesus’ resurrection served as a precursor to the resurrection of all humanity. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” All who believe in Jesus, confessing Him as Lord and believing in His resurrection, will rise again as did Jesus Himself.

Why did Jesus rise? According to St. Paul, Jesus will deliver “the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul told believers that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-10). Jesus will, in the end, conquer every human power and reign over all creation. “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”  Only God the Father will reign above Jesus, God the Son. All else will confess Jesus is Lord.

St. Paul had experienced the power of the Resurrection in his own life, but not in the way the Corinthians expected. This bears remembering: Christianity does not bring exemption from suffering. “Why am I in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!” St. Paul lived in the power of the Resurrection, but he knew that life proved even more difficult for believers than for unbelievers. “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” Unbelievers with no fear of God’s judgment can live as they wish. Believers must weigh every action in light of the Resurrection. We must act constantly in ways that will reflect the Resurrection’s influence in our lives.

Some Corinthian Christians struggled with the Resurrection in other ways. “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’” You’ve heard the scornful questions: “How does this work?” “What about a cremated body?” “How will God raise a body decomposed into dust?”

St. Paul had no patience for these questioners. “You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.”

According to St. Paul, God will provide a new body for every person who ever lived. No, it may not contain all the atoms that composed it at death, but God will give a new body to every person at the final Resurrection. “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” The Corinthians needed to hear that, as we bear the image of our ancestors here in the flesh, we will bear the image of Jesus Himself in the final Resurrection.

Then, St. Paul finished his discussion of the Resurrection with comforting words for everyone who faces death. Many of you have heard me read these words in graveside services:

1. “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
   

Here we find the real reason why we will receive a new body in the last Resurrection. Our current bodies cannot handle the kingdom of God! Our physical eyes cannot handle the splendor of the new Creation; our physical bodies cannot handle eternity. We will receive bodies that will last for eternity, bringing death itself to an end. St. Paul had reminded the Corinthians, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Jesus defeated death in his resurrection, proving that we, too, will defeat death in the final Resurrection. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Since God has given us this promise of victory through Jesus’ resurrection, we should work even harder to serve God and not grow faint in proclaiming Jesus’ victory. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” In some way we cannot comprehend, every action we do for Christ in this life will receive a reward in the life to come.

If you’re reading this sermon, I want you to understand this: Jesus’ resurrection actually happened. Jesus’ resurrection brought victory to all who believe in Him, confessing Him as Lord of their lives. Jesus’ resurrection means that we, too, will rise again. No matter what we face in life, no matter how we die, no matter what persecution we experience, no matter what trials we endure: We have victory through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Christian, live in victory and in the power of the Resurrection!