1 Corinthians 15 1 thru 11 - pub

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1 “Of First Importance,” 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (September 14, 2014) Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. PRAY We are almost finished with our study of 1 Corinthians, Lord willing we will wrap up our study in two more weeks. And by God’s grace we have wrapped up our study on chapters 12-14. Those were some of the toughest sermons I’ve ever had to preach, for a variety of reasons. This morning a much simpler text – first part of 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 1 is a good thumbnail sketch of what we’re going to talk about this morning. I’ll read it again – Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand …” Paul, who lived two thousand years ago and was one of the founders of the Christian church, writes to explain to a group of Christians in the ancient city of Corinth the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that’s what I hope to do as well. For many of you, perhaps most of you, I’m not going to tell you anything new this morning. You know this gospel, some of you have believed it for longer than I’ve been alive. So for you this will be a reminder, but that’s okay – there’s a lot to be said for being reminded of the gospel. It is, as Paul says, “of first importance.” We need to be reminded of things of first importance often, and maybe if nothing else this sermon will help you share the gospel with others in your own life. But maybe some of you aren’t quite sure what the gospel, this matter of first importance, is – you think you know but you’re not quite sure. Or maybe this is the first time you’ve ever heard the word “gospel” – all the better. If you’re here today and not a Christian, we want to give you a special welcome. We want you here on Sundays, and if we can do anything for you, answer any questions, please let me know.

© 2014 J.D. Shaw

2 What is the gospel Paul talks about here? Three things: first, this gospel is news. Second, the gospel must be received. Third, this gospel, when received, will make a perfect heart. First, this gospel is news. The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the word which is translated as “gospel” in verse 1: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you…” translates the Greek word evangelion, which means “good news.” In fact, the word “gospel” is Old English for “good news.” You could just as easily and more clearly translate verse 1 as “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the good news I preached to you…” We probably should update our Bibles but we don’t because Christians have gotten so attached to the word “gospel.” But gospel means good news. Paul says that this good news is of first importance, in other words, it’s foundational to Christianity. There is no Christianity apart from this good news. And that alone makes Christianity utterly unique among the world’s religions. No other religion – not Islam, not Judaism, not Buddhism – makes news foundational to their belief system. What matters in those religion is not any news that you might here, but what you do – are you being moral? Are you living a holy life? What you do, not news you might hear, is of first importance. Certainly, in 21st century America, what is seen as foundational to the good life in our culture has nothing to do with any news you might hear. In America, what are we told will bring you success, prosperity, money, happiness? Work hard (or marry rich). If you don’t work hard, you won’t stand a chance. But if you study hard, exercise hard, work hard at your job and work hard at your relationships, and if you just put forth enough effort then you can have a good life. What you do is of first importance. Christianity says “no.” What is of first importance, what is foundational, is this good news, this gospel. In Christianity, in a very real way, what you do with your life does not matter. Your good deeds, your hard work, is not foundational. What is of first importance is how your respond to this good news. So, what is the good news? Verses 3-7: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” According to these verses, the good news has three components: first, we really are sinners. That’s verse 3 – Paul talks about “our sins.” Before you can understand any good news in Christianity, you must first understand the bad news. You must understand what your biggest problem in life is. Some of you © 2014 J.D. Shaw

3 walked into this room this morning and you thought your biggest problem was that rush week starts today, and you’re worried about getting a bid from the sorority you want to be a part of. And if I could just pledge whatever sorority then everything would be great. Or, if you’re a little older, you walked in here today and you thought your biggest problem was that you don’t have enough money to pay your bills, and if you could just get x-amount more dollars per year from your job, everything would be great. Or, you walked in here and you thought your biggest problem is that your marriage is falling apart, or your children are making horrible decisions and ruining their lives. You walked in here today and you thought your biggest problem was that Friday morning you had an appointment with your oncologist and he said, “Sit down – the tumor is malignant.” All are real problems but not your biggest problem. The Bible says that your biggest problem is that you are a sinner, you’ve done bad things, which means you’ve broken God’s law over and over again – you’ve lied, you’ve lusted, you’ve coveted, you’ve slandered, you’ve stolen. And the holy creator God of the universe will punish those sins. Now of course this is an unpopular view today. A lot of people do not like the idea of a punishing God. They say they cannot imagine worshiping a God like that. They say they believe in a God that only loves and only accepts, and never punishes us for our sins. That’s understandable on one level. But just think about it like this. If, as Christians say, God is all-powerful, but he refuses to punish all the ways we hurt one another on earth, if he refuses to judge those who do incredibly wicked things, then he wouldn’t be a good God. Imagine that a serial killer was on trial here in Oxford. The jury heard the evidence, convicted him, he was guilty, no one doubted it, but when the time came for the judge to sentence the man, he says, “You know, I don’t believe in the idea of a punishing judge. I only believe in a loving and accepting judge. So I refuse to punish you, young man, for your crimes.” Would we say, “Oh, what a wise and good judge”? No, we would demand that he resign immediately from his position. God won’t make that mistake – he will punish all our sins. Therefore, I don’t care what is going on in your life right now, no matter how turbulent or hard it is (and it may be hard indeed), your biggest problem is that you are a sinner and God will punish those sins. That’s the bad news. Now, the good news: second, Christ really did die for your sins. Verse 3: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures …” Here’s the good news: rather than punishing you for your sins, as you deserve, God became a man in Jesus Christ, and died in your place. Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure who lived about two thousand years ago, he was fully man, and he was fully God. 100% man, 100% God. We don’t know how God could simultaneously be completely man, but that is what the Bible teaches.

© 2014 J.D. Shaw

4 Jesus lived a perfect life, he never sinned, he only loved his neighbor, he never lied, lusted, coveted, slandered, or stole. And at the end of his life he was hung on a Roman cross and died in our place for our sins. He took the punishment we deserve by sacrificing himself on the cross. You know, one of the things about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is that once you start maturing as a Christian, you start thinking about it every day – that Jesus, the literal Son of God, would do something like that for you. He would die for your sins. And because you think about it all the time you start noticing it everywhere. Especially in art; you notice that artists use this idea of sacrificial love a lot, and moviemakers in particular. In hundreds, probably thousands of movies, the climax is one of the main characters dying to save one or more of their friends. But then you mature a little more in your Christian life and you see that there’s one big difference between how the filmmakers portray sacrificial love and what Jesus did with his sacrificial love. In movies, the hero always dies for good people (often after having killed a lot of the bad guys). Not Jesus; he died for sinners. He died for us, and we are not good people. Romans 5:6-8 (so foundational to Christianity): “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person— though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That I think is the biggest barrier to becoming a Christian – admitting that you’re not righteous, that you’re not good, and that you need Jesus to die for you. But if that truth ever becomes real to you, you are so close to being a Christian. I had a young lady in my church in Starkville who, when she was twelve or thirteen, really began to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when it dawned on her that Jesus died for her sins, and she certainly didn’t deserve Jesus to do anything for her, she was kind of in shock, and she kept saying, “You mean he did that for me.” Third, he really still lives. Verses 4-6: the gospel includes the good news about Jesus “ … that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” This is talking about the resurrection of Jesus, how he was dead in the tomb for three days but God raised him from the dead, and then all the hundreds of witnesses who saw him in his resurrected body. Now, why is the resurrection of Jesus part of the good news? Lord willing we’ll spend all next Sunday on the resurrection, but hopefully this morning it will suffice to say this. When someone commits a crime, how do you know when they’ve completed all the punishment society says they deserve for their crime? When they are let out of jail; when their term in prison is over, and they go free. What’s the phrase often used to describe people who’ve finished their prison term? We say, “They’ve paid their debt to society.” © 2014 J.D. Shaw

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Friends, the resurrection is important because without it you would never know whether or not Jesus died for your sins; whether he really paid our debt. If he never left the tomb, if Jesus is still in the ground, then he could not have died for our sins. In fact, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” But the resurrection means that Jesus has died for your sins, he has paid the debt you owe, because God accepted Jesus’ death as payment for your sins. One pastor I know puts it like this: the resurrection is God’s way of giving us a receipt, saying that the debt you owe for your sins has been paid in full. Some of you are really organized in your finances – you keep all your receipts. No matter what the bill was, when you paid it you asked for a receipt and you filed it away, and you where you filed it and you can always go get it. The rest of us don’t like people like you. We don’t keep all our receipts, or we lose them. But we’re always a little afraid that someone’s going to knock on our door and say: “You owe me.” And we’ll say, “I’m sure I paid that bill, I know I paid it,” but we won’t have the receipt to prove it. You will, and having that receipt on that day will make us not liking you worth it, because you will be able to say to the debt collector, “Here’s the receipt, trouble me no more. I’ve paid the debt.” Friends, when you begin to doubt God’s love for you, when you feel condemned for your sins, when you can’t shake the shame you feel and your hear the enemy’s lies about how God can’t love you, how nobody can love you because of what you’ve done, you can pull out the resurrection and say, “Trouble me no more guilt, trouble me no more shame. Jesus got out of prison, he’s paid my debt, God does not hold my past against me and in Christ he loves me.” “Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea; a great High Priest whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me; my name is graven on his hands [how? The nails!], my name is written on his heart; I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.” That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ – it is news about what Jesus has done for you. It is of first importance. Second, the gospel must be received. Verses 1-2: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved …” I love that Paul says we must receive the gospel, and not just that we must believe it. Lots of people in Mississippi, I think, have believed the gospel – if you ask them whether or not that believe that they are sinners, that Jesus died for those sins, and that his body was raised from the dead, they’d say, “Yes, I believe that.” I’d go so far as to say that 90% of Mississippians believe that gospel. But I am under no illusions that 90% of Mississippians have received it. Why? Because if you have received this good news, the result must be a radically changed life. Imagine © 2014 J.D. Shaw

6 you had a wealthy aunt – you don’t know her that well, you’ve only met her a few times in your life, she lives far away. But you get word one day that she’s died, and left you as her only heir. And now you have come into an inheritance worth $50 million. When you get that news, that all of the sudden your net worth goes from $50 or $50,000 or $550,000 to $50 million – would you just believe that news (oh, that’s nice – I inherited $50 million)? Say you got the news about your inheritance while you were working on the broken sewer line in your backyard? Would you say, “Oh, that’s nice – I inherited $50 million; now let me continue to dig into this pipe filled with human waste”? No! It would change you. You’d probably start laughing, because you’d never have to worry about any kind of repairs on your house again. No matter what happened to your house, you could afford to hire someone to repair it, and you could go rent someone else’s house. Or you could go buy a new house and leave your old house to rot. Who cares? Why would you ever worry about anything again? You’d feel confident enough to face anything. You have $50 million! But the point is you would be changed – you could not live the same way you lived before you received news of the inheritance. You would be for the rest of your natural life radically changed. And that is what happens to us when we receive the gospel. At one point in the book of Ephesians 1, Paul says that in the gospel Christians have also obtained an inheritance. Ephesians 1:13-14: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” What is our inheritance? It is eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth, where will live forever with Jesus Christ. We are joint heirs with Jesus of the universe, children of God. We will acquire not just lots of money, but we will reign with Jesus Christ over the entirety of the universe. Everything that is will become ours. If you hear that news, and you really receive it, you can’t be unchanged. You’ll have to live differently if that news gets deep into your heart. Teresa of Avila, the 16th century Christian writer, said, “In the light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.” If you receive the gospel, it must change you like that – or you’ve never really heard it. But how will the gospel change you when you receive it? Receiving the gospel isn’t just like coming into a lot of money. Suddenly coming into millions of dollars can actually be a bad thing. You know all the stories of lottery winners whose lives fall apart after they win all that money. Plus, it’s not like all people who have a lot of money wind up being nice people. It’s a fact that when someone makes a lot of money or becomes really successful in a certain field, it often makes that person incredibly arrogant and insufferable to be around. Have you not seen this happen to someone? They make a ton of money, and they probably do know a lot about business, but very often you find they think they know © 2014 J.D. Shaw

7 about everything. Because they made a ton of money in business, they feel like they know more than the counselor about therapy. They feel they know more than the minister about theology. They feel they know more about medicine than the doctor or law than the lawyer. You can’t tell them anything. So the receiving the inheritance of the gospel doesn’t just bring about any kind of change, but a certain kind of change. Third, the gospel produces perfect heart. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:8-11. What do we see here? First, the gospel, in ways that can resemble having money, does bring confidence. We see in the New Testament that Paul is never timid or shy or scared. He says that he’s worked harder than any other apostle, that God’s grace has been incredibly effective through him. He says, “I preached and you believed.” Paul is never intimidated. We know Paul faced down lions, governors, high priests, other apostles, and even Caesar himself. So when you receive the gospel, you should be confident. You’re a child of the king, and children don’t have to beg, don’t have to worry. You will have everything you need to do your Father’s will. But, you won’t only be confident; you’ll also be contrite. You’ll be broken, humbled. Paul says, “Jesus came to me ‘as to one untimely born.’” That’s a very sanitized translation of 1 Corinthians. Do you know what Paul actually says? He literally says, “Jesus appeared to me as if I were an aborted fetus.” Now, what did Paul mean by that? Nobody knows exactly why Paul used that phrase to describe himself, but the general thrust of it is clear: by comparing himself to an abortion Paul is saying, basically, I’m a nobody. In a real way I don’t matter. There’s nothing good in me. I know there’s no reason for me to think highly of myself. I have no room to boast about anything; all my righteous acts, all my accomplishments, are only filthy rags. They are worthless. When you receive the gospel it will only happen after you admit you’re a sinner, and you don’t deserve anything good at all. But once you have received the gospel you also know that you’re absolutely loved by God, so you will receive everything you could possibly imagine and more. On the one hand you know you are a sinner and have nothing in yourself, but on the other hand you also know you are saved, and have everything. And the more those twin truths dig into the soil of your heart and push out all the junk that’s been there all your life, the more wonderful you’ll become. Strong, confident, not afraid of anyone, ready to speak truth to power, never intimidated by anyone, yet also contrite, broken, humbled by the knowledge of what you deserve, never thinking you’re superior to anyone else. You’ll be more patient, more kind, more compassionate to other people than you ever thought you could be. © 2014 J.D. Shaw

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In other words, friends, after years and years and years of receiving the gospel deep into the soil of your heart, one day you’ll wake up and find that your heart is now perfect. A heart like God’s heart. It won’t happen this side of heaven, but that is the goal – perfection. Paul in Philippians 3:12: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Are there some things about yourself you really don’t like, that you wish you could change? Some attitudes, some habits, some prejudices, some flaws in your character? Are there some things, some people, some circumstances you wished you no longer feared? Then take heart! One day by the power of the gospel they will be gone. Now that is good news. The good news of Jesus Christ, and it is of first importance. I pray you believe it. If you have any questions, please ask. Now, to remind us of this great love God has for us, we’re about to take the Lord’s Supper. All Christians, whether members of this church or not, whether baptized in a particular way or not – we, the elders of Grace Bible Church, welcome all believers in Jesus Christ welcome to come to the Lord’s Table.

© 2014 J.D. Shaw