It Starts Small

In the first 11 verses of chapter 15, Paul is refreshing their memory and reminding of the gospel. It is not a new teaching. They have heard it before. But apparently they were wavering in their faith.

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! ⁹ As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

¹⁰ For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 1:6-10

For us, we need to remember that belief in God is not a one-time event. It’s not where we make a decision, raise our hand, or pray a prayer and be set for life.

¹³ And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.

Luke 8:13

³¹ Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. ³² You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32

¹⁹ You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.

James 2:19

We have to always be alert towards “false gospels” coming our way. We must not be seduced by them. It doesn’t matter how attractive they sound or how energetic or visionary the teacher is. How can you prevent this? Know the truth. Always compare what you hear with the Word of God to see if it is correct or not.

Paul is telling them and us, do not be deceived. The gospel is Christ, the cross, and the resurrection. This is the core of the gospel and the core of our faith. Love, mercy, following God, forgiveness, etc. all sound great. But all of them are dependent on the resurrection. What is so important about the resurrection?

It proves that Jesus is the Son of God. It proves He has the power to take away our sins. And it proves that we too will be raised one day. Without it, Jesus was at best a good man with good intentions. At worst, He was a liar and hypocrite who purposely misled people.

What are the implications of the resurrection for us?

First, we must believe it. It does us no good whatsoever if we adopt morals or principles from the Bible. We must also believe in the resurrection. Attending church or studying is pointless if we don’t believe in the resurrection. Feeling good when we hear singing does not help us. Believing it is the most important decision we will ever make.

Second, don’t water down the gospel when we share to unbelievers. Jesus’ resurrection was a physical one, not a spiritual one. It is not a symbol. It is not a parable. It is a fact. Don’t try to make the gospel easier to believe than it is. That won’t help anybody. Christ is alive. He is the king, the ruler. We must not only believe it, but we must submit our lives to the risen Christ.

Third, We have great hope for the future. Since Christ is risen, so will we be. We must live our lives, knowing that the life we have now is not the end for us. That means whatever we do has eternal significance and all of our actions are extremely important.

Finally, it means that God’s Word is true. Jesus Himself said He would arise and He did. If He could pull that one off, He has the power to do everything He said. All prophesy and promises are true so we must believe them.

What are the evidences of Christ’s resurrection? Paul breaks down the evidence of Christ’s resurrection.

The rapid growth of the church (1-2)

The Scriptures (3-4)

Eye-witnesses (5-7)

The apostles’ affirmation, the empty tomb, the paid soldiers

The dramatic life-change of the disciples

The disciples’ martyrdom

What are the evidences against the resurrection? Only the assumption that miracles are impossible and God doesn’t exist.

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.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10

Paul was the last of the apostles and considered himself to be the least of them. He didn’t use this as an excuse to sit around and do nothing. He once persecuted Christ. But He didn’t live in self-pity and depression over his past wrongs. Once he believed, he diligently worked the rest of his life to promote the truth. Just like we learned in 1 Corinthians 12, even if you think your gifting is less than others, you still have a role. You need to work at it.

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.^[b] 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.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

These verses teach us what situation Christians would be in if Christ did not raise from the dead. I’ve heard a lot of times from many people that faith is good. Religion is good. Belief is good. People say this irrespective of what belief it is. It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe it. Islam is OK. Hindu is OK. Buddha is OK. Christianity is OK. It’s all the same. It will give you peace and comfort and meaning to live. This is often used as a cop-out by those who don’t really want to exam the claims of a belief. You have your belief. I have mine. It’s all equal. This is also the same as universalism. It teaches that there are many roads to heaven. You just need to be sincere.

Paul crushes this idea to the ground and hopefully helps us realize that believing in Christ is a serious matter. It affects every area of our life. It is not just a whim we can embrace for the sake of feeling better about ourselves. What is the situation of Christians if Jesus did not arise from the dead?

1. If Christ is not raised, preaching is a waste of time (14)
2. If Christ is not raised, believing is useless (14)
3. If Christ is not raised, all those who share about Him are liars (15)
4. If Christ is not raised, neither will we be (16)
5. If Christ is not raised, their faith is worthless (17)
6. If Christ is not raised, we are still living in sin (18)
7. If Christ is not raised, we are the most pitiful humans on earth (19)

If Christ did not raise from the dead, is this a good thing? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the most pitiful human on earth. If Christ didn’t raise, I waste every Sunday. I waste every morning and night. I waste most Monday and Tuesday afternoons and most mornings when I read the Word and listen to sermons. I waste the money I have given to the church, etc. etc. It is a huge waste. If it is not true, I can live my life merrily. I can be care-free. I can have a good time and party to my heart’s content. All of us need to ask ourselves if we really believe in the resurrection.

If you believe it, live out God’s Word in your lives.

If you don’t, do not deceive yourself into thinking you are OK.

If Jesus did not arise from the dead, that is bad bad news for all of us. However, the next word is pretty important.

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.

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.

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

BUT. That one word is very reassuring. Jesus did in fact arise from the dead. He is in fact the Son of God. He is in fact proof that all believers will one day be resurrected. When will this resurrection occur? Actually there will be at least three resurrections.

¹³ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,^[a] with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

For believers from the church period at the rapture.

Many who sleep in the dust
of the earth will awake,
some to eternal life,
and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.

Daniel 12:2

Believers from OT and tribulation before the millennium.

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. ¹² I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. ¹³ Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. ¹⁴ Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:11-15

For all unbelievers after the millennium at the great white throne before the final state.

In fact, every person will be raised. But our faith or lack thereof now will affect which resurrection we will take part in. Christ was the first and the proof of what was coming after. This is very reassuring for us. Death is not the end. This world is not all there is. One day our sin will be gone. One day death will be gone. Pain and sickness and war and strife will all be gone. Our imperfect bodies with diseases and bad health will be gone. We will have perfect bodies and be in perfect paradise in the presence of our perfect Lord forever! If you want this, hold fast, stand firm.

Paul gives us several points to consider as we read these scriptures.

Don’t be a “wishy-washy” Sunday Christian who enjoys the music or good feelings when he goes to church. Don’t just pick out the parts or morals you like from the Bible. Do not disregard the other things in it. Believe in Christ and His resurrection from the core of your being and let this guide your life.

Don’t candy-coat the gospel and try to make it easier to accept than it really is. Tell it like it is without glossing over the miraculous elements.

Don’t pity yourself as a poor persecuted Christian who has to make sacrifices with seemingly no end in sight. Instead rejoice in the future hope that you have. Remember that this life is not the end. All of those sacrifices will one day be rewarded. We have eternal life and will one day be raised forever with a perfect body into paradise. That will wipe out all the memories of the difficulties and persecutions you faced and will make it all worthwhile.

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