The Meaning of It All

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-19

Focus: The Resurrection

Function: To support the importance of this fundamental doctrine.

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

You have all heard the joke about the 3 preachers, a Baptist, a Pentecostal and a Brethren preacher fishing on the lake.

• They ran out of worms, so the Baptist preacher climbed out of the boat, walked across the water, got more bait and walked back.
• They got thirsty, so the Pentecostal minister walked across the water to get them something cold to drink.
• The Brethren minister was really impressed with their faith, so when they got hungry, he stepped out of the boat and sank to the bottom of the lake.
• The two ministers said to him, Brother we know you have faith, but it helps to know where the stepping stones are.
• You have heard it in one form or another.
• But the stones, the stepping stones, the foundation of our faith, is what I want us to look at this morning.

The doctrine of the resurrection is critical to our understanding of what it means to be Christian.

Paul is saying that one cannot separate Christianity from the doctrine of sin, atonement, sacrifice and resurrection.

There were believers in Corinth who doubted the resurrection.

It could be that they doubted that our physical bodies are resurrected, or that once we die, that is the end; there is no life after death.

I don’t like drawing lines in the sand as to who is correct and who isn’t. Arguments like those are counterproductive to the building of the family of God.

While in Bible College, our church had an Awana program and our kids really enjoyed it. But the people behind Awana made us stop because we wouldn’t sign a statement of faith that declared we believed in eternal security.

I believe that kind of stuff just causes God to hang His head and cry.

But the resurrection of the dead, (SHOW): The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a stepping stone on a lake; it’s the foundation of everything we believe.

If you want to walk on water, I mean live by faith, you have to know where this stone is.

By faith in the atoning sacrificial death of Christ and His resurrection, the Holy Spirit comes inside of us to dwell.

By faith on this stone, we understand God’s Word, a rock that we can build our lives on.

By faith on this stone, we lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven by living selfless lives here on earth.

The resurrection is critical to who we are.

To help us see this, let me point out a subtle difference between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.

We have what I call “a naked cross.”

• It is a subtle reminder that points people to the doctrine of the resurrection.
• I am not saying Roman Catholics don’t believe in the Resurrection, they certainly do.
• (SHOW) They, as well as us, know that the resurrection means nothing if the crucifixion didn’t happen.
• The crucifix, and taking the bread and cup every Sunday is a way for them to remember the terrible price God paid in order to bring us back into His family.
• (SHOW) The Cross is God’s valentine to us.

So, does this physical body get resurrected?

• The nature of the resurrection has also been debated for centuries.
• Some Christians, who martyred other Christians because they didn’t believe like them, thought that burning at the stake would keep them forever out of heaven since there would be no body to be resurrected.
• By faith we know that those who die and their body is broken down into its various chemicals still get resurrected.
• That would mean that a body would have to be completely preserved in order for that person to come back to life.
• It doesn’t make sense.
• Does this body come back to life?
• Well, this scripture points out that Jesus’ physical body did come back to life.
• The grave was empty.
• The disciples recognized Jesus.
• Jesus ate food with them in their presence.
• But then, it must have been a very different body because even those closest to Him didn’t recognize the shape.
• And Jesus Himself said that the heavenly bodies don’t reproduce.
• Jesus’ resurrected body passed through the locked doors of the room the disciples were hiding in.
• (SHOW) We are resurrected with a physical body, not just a spirit, like a ghost.
• It is also a Spiritual body, without reproductive organs, without the chance for disease or decay, with power greater than the angels.
• Mary recognized Jesus when He spoke to her. It was Jesus’ in an unique, physical spiritual body.
• You will have one also.

But some people don’t believe in the resurrection. We will look at two groups. We aren’t looking at them in order to sneer, or objectify them, but we are looking in order to understand the doctrine of the resurrection.

Liberal theology denies the fact of the resurrection.

• When Annual conference was in Orlando Florida, the Sunday morning speaker said something that really blew me away.
• His sermon started: “Jesus died… Jesus died and that was it…. …and the disciples got together to comfort each other and the church was born and in the Spirit of Christ, as they comforted themselves, Jesus was resurrected in their memories and they found the power to continue.”
• In my political beliefs, I am moderate, some in my family will even call my politics liberal.
• But my theology is conservative. I say, it is so conservative, that my politics are moderate.
• This man embraced what I would call Liberal Theology because he denies our sin and God’s loving response to it: the atoning sacrifice and the resurrection of Christ.
• Does that make him evil?
• No, I am sure he is a good man.
• I do think he is misguided.
• I think if he gets out of the boat, he is going to fall right into the lake.
• I think God is big enough to show Him the truth about Christ’s passion.
• For example: one of my favorite radio preachers is Steve Brown.
• He describes that journey into faith in the resurrection of Christ.
• After Seminary, he was convinced that Jesus didn’t physically rise from the dead.
• He said, I remember saying to myself whenever people talked about Jesus rising from the dead: “yeah, right.”
• But then I met Jesus personally and found out He did rise from the dead.

But the hope is in the fact that we all feel, (SHOW): We all believe that there is more to this life than just this physical body.

• We sense it.
• We feel it.
• Inside, we know it to be true.
• Almost everyone comforts people with the thought that the dead are in a better place.
• And I know that some still say the “better place” is a place where they have no pain because there is no resurrection to them.
• And you may be saying to me: “Pastor, you’re preaching to the choir here, or else why would we be here?”
• Well, there is a lot of good we can do without belief in the resurrection of the dead.
• Remember my Jewish neighbor?
• Kathy and I went with her two weeks ago to Temple Israel for their Sabbath service.
• When we walked in the door, she placed a whole bag of groceries into a bin for the poor.
• Everyone, every week, brings food for the poor.
• They are doing good works.
• (SHOW) But we do good works because God was so good to us by taking the place of our sins to draw us back into His family.
• Ephesians 2 tells us that He saved us to do good works.

Actually, belief in the afterlife, or disbelief in it isn’t new.

• When Jesus was preparing to raise Lazarus from the dead, Martha said to Him: I know the dead will live again someday.
• She was aligning herself with the religious faction of the Jews who believed in the Resurrection.
• She needed to make that point clear to everyone around her
• She was preaching it.
• That belief goes in cycles.
• In the 50’s almost everyone believed.
• And then the age of science and reason ONLY hit its height and since it couldn’t be proven by scientific means, many denied it.
• The so-called intelligent class scoffed at those of us who believe in life after death.
• And today, while we enjoy the many benefits of science and reason, spirituality is also added into the mix of popular beliefs.
• Barna says, 81% believe in life after death, 9% believe there could be and 10% believe that death is the end.
• We sense it, we feel it, and in our guts we know the resurrection is true.

So, what does this passage mean?

• (SHOW) There is no Christianity without salvation.
• (SHOW –same slide) ¹⁷If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
• Our Christian lives are meaningless if all that there really is, is the idea that we eat, drink, marry and then we die.
• Our sacrifices made on behalf of our Christian faith are also worthless, if there is no reward.
• Interesting that Paul assumes that all of his readers lived sacrificially.
• It says something about our own lives.
• SHOW) We are organic….
• Just as we comfort ourselves with knowledge that a loved one is in a better place and we will see our family members again:
• (SHOW –same slide) …We are the body of Christ, and it is organic, we are part of Christ.
• We are part of both the living on Earth and those living in Heaven.
• (SHOW) We live both for heaven and for earth.
• The apostle talks about that goal we have for heaven and we should work for that reward.
• (SHOW –same slide) We live for heaven by living here on earth FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS.

You ask me how I know He lives! He lives within my heart!

CONCL:

So, do you trust in the death and resurrection of Christ to save you?