Victory
1 Corinthians
15:12-20
February
11, 2007
Now if
Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead,
how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is
no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has
not been raised; and if Christ has not been
raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in
vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God,
because we testified of 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, then
Christ has not been raised. If
Christ has not been raised, your faith is
futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in
Christ have perished. If for this life only
we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people
most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has
been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
The first week of this year, I went to a Conference on Evangelism. The
theme for the week was “Keeping the Main Thing, The Main Thing!” It was
one of the best conferences that I have attended. The music was great, the
teaching was excellent and the proclamation was awesome. In every class
and in every session the leaders constantly lifted the theme up in order
to remind the participants of what is important in the faith.
I would have loved to been a fly on the wall when the writer was writing
these words to the early Christians at Corinth. Corinth was a unique city.
It was as diversified a city as any one could have found during that
period of time. There were people of all sorts of faiths and sects in that
city before the gospel of Jesus
Christ was ever proclaimed to anyone.
Unfortunately, what happens in situations like Corinth
sometimes is that human nature takes over and humans add their own take to
the gospel message. There were those in the Corinthians church who had
been touched by the words of proclamation about Jesus
of Nazareth. There were many who had turned over their lives to Him. Yet
at some point the people started bringing in some of their own thoughts
and baggage from a previous life and incorporating it in their Christian
life. Some were even trying to create new rules and regulations for the
early believers due to their past experiences.
In the middle of the debates rose up a belief and a
statement “that dead men do not rise again.” Paul did not hesitate for a
second. He went on the offensive toward those who were teaching that
belief. His response to them was one that made them think in a positive
way. His rebuttal was in the form of a debate because he knew that was the
style of the day in Corinth. To put it simply, Paul said: ”If you take up
that position it means that Jesus of Nazareth
did not rise from the dead; and if that is so, then the whole Christian
faith is false.”
There is no doubt that his reply caused some to stop
and think and there is no doubt that others responded with their own words
to prove Paul wrong. Today, it is important for us to examine why Paul
thought it so necessary to enter into the debate. Paul knew in his own
heart, soul and mind that the resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth was essential to the faith. A lot of other things that folks
were debating about were not but for Paul and for the early believers this
was a key point to the faith. So it is today!
The resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth proves beyond a shadow of doubt that truth is far stronger
than falsehoods. In the Gospel of John (8:40), Jesus
said to those who opposed him these words. “Now you seek to kill me, a man
who has told you the truth.” God entered into
human history through Jesus of Nazareth.
God was and is incarnate in
Jesus. Jesus
came into this world with the true idea of God
and goodness fully in him. Those who opposed him wanted him dead because
they did not want him revealing their own falsehoods. If they had
succeeded in ridding him from this world then their falsehoods would have
been stronger than the truth.
There is a story about Andrew Melville who was one of
the leaders of the reformation. On one occasion, the Earl of Morton
summoned Melville to make an appearance before him. Basically, the Earl
told Melville to stop teaching and preaching his thoughts. The Earl said
to Melville: “There will never be quietness in this country unless you be
hanged or banished.” Melville responded: “Threaten me in that fashion. It
is the same to me whether I rot in the air or in the ground…Yet
God be glorified, it will not be in your
power to hang nor to exile his truth.” The Resurrection of
Jesus of Nazareth is the ultimate guarantee
of God’s truth.
The Resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth proves that good is stronger than evil. Many years ago a book
was written entitled The Exorcist. A little while later a movie hit
the theaters with the same title. It was about a young girl who was
inhabited by demons. The family called in the local priest for help. They
could not help. They called in the expert priest for help. At then end the
young girl was saved because the priest commanded that the evil spirit
that was in her come out and enter into him. At that point, the priest
jumped to his death. The Resurrection of Jesus
proves that story of fiction was false and it proves that
God’s goodness has been and always will be
stronger than any evil in this world.
Today, in the Christian world, we like to blame one
group or the other for the crucifixion of Jesus.
The fact is that those who were consumed by evil cried out for his life
and plotted out his death. They used all forms of falsehoods and trickery
to put to death this man of goodness and grace. If Jesus
of Nazareth had not been resurrected then those forces of evil would have
won the battle. Jesus was raised from the
dead and God’s goodness did defeat and still
does defeat evil.
The resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth proves that love defeats hate. Jesus
was and is the love of God incarnate. Those
who sought to destroy Jesus were and are an
excellent example of hatred. They did anything and everything to destroy
him. They gossiped about him. They talked in a negative way behind his
back. They plotted to kill him. They used all forms of trickery and lies
to bring about his death. They represented hatred in its truest sense. If
there had not been a resurrection then that hatred that was in their
hearts and souls would have conquered the love of God.
The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the
triumph of God’s love over all that hatred
had tried to accomplish and it conqueror over all that hatred tries to
accomplish today.
A little boy was playing with his sister one day when
he saw a lady who lived down the street from them. The lady seemed to that
little boy to be the most unpleasant woman he had ever known. She was
always finding fault with them. As the boy saw her that day he said: "I
just hate her!" His little sister, greatly shocked, said, "Oh no! The
Bible says we must love everyone." "Oh, well," he remarked, "old Mrs.
Blank wasn't born when that was written."
Hate is a powerful word and it is a powerful emotion.
The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth
conquered that emotion and that word. God
through His Son’s resurrection defeated hate and brought forth His love in
His world.
The resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth proves that life is stronger than death. If
Jesus had died and had not risen from that
grave then that would have proved that death could defeat the loveliest
and best life that ever walked this earth. Death would have broken that
life of compassion and grace if it had not been resurrected from the
grave.
During War World II, a church in London was ready for
their harvest of thanksgiving to begin on the next Sunday. In the middle
of all the gifts that were in that church laid an ear of corn. The
celebration of thanksgiving did not happen. During the night, the city was
attacked by a savage air raid. The church was laid in ruins. The months
passed after that air raid and finally spring came to England. Someone was
walking by that Church site when they noticed that in the middle of that
destroyed church facility were shoots of green. The summer came and the
shoots flourished and in the fall there was a flourishing patch of corn
standing in the middle of those ruins. The bombs and all the destruction
that hit that city on that Saturday night could not kill the life of that
corn or of its seeds. The Resurrection of Jesus is the final proof that
life is stronger than death. Through Jesus of
Nazareth all have been offered the opportunity to participate and live in
the new life. It is a new life that conquers all even death.
Paul entered into that debate so that he could inform
all of the importance of the Resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth. Paul knew that if one took away the resurrection that the
foundation and the fabric of the Christian faith would be destroyed. He
wanted all to know that the resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth took place in human history and that through His resurrection
God defeated falsehoods, evil, hatred and
death!
In verse twenty Paul wrote: “But in fact
Christ has been raised from the dead, the
first fruits of those who have died.”
Glory be to God.
God took on all the evil that the world could
and would throw at Him and he defeated it through the resurrection of
Jesus of Nazareth. Through His resurrection,
all who call upon his name and receive him in their hearts and souls
receive the victory that conquers and defeats falsehoods, evil, hatred and
death. Praise be to God for becoming fully
human and fully God in
Jesus of Nazareth. Thanks be to God
for the victory given in and through the power of Jesus.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
