Category: Studies

12.) Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13.) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

14.) And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.

15.) Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—in fact the dead do not rise.

16.) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

17.) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

18.) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19.) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

 

In the message last week (I Cor 15:1-11), Paul began his argument for the resurrection of the dead by stating two points of common ground, two points on which he knew the Corinthians agreed with him:  1) that he didn’t measure up as an apostle and 2) that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  Remember, there was a group in the Corinthian church who claimed there was no resurrection of the dead for the believers.  Also remember that this thinking stemmed from the Greek mindset of an everlasting soul, but not an everlasting body.  As far as these persons were concerned, the body would be corrupted beyond repair.

 

In today’s Scriptures, Paul begins by asking a question, “If it has been proclaimed that Christ is raised from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”  In other words, you say on one hand that you believe that Christ was raised from the dead, but you also say you don’t believe in the resurrection of the believer from the dead.  He goes on to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.  Either there is a resurrection or there is not a resurrection.  If what they said was correct, and there is no resurrection for the believer, then there was no resurrection for Jesus, either.  In these 8 verses, Paul uses the word risen or raised up seven times.  In the Greek, this means to go from death to standing, and it is in the present perfect tense; therefore, it is continual, without interruption or end.

 

Paul then tells them that if Christ is not risen, then “our” preaching (literally, proclamation of the Gospel) is empty. That everything they have heard and seen is a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind; and their faith (which is used by Paul as saving faith, the belief in Christ’s finished work and our justification) is also a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind.

 

Notice in verse 14 Paul says “our” and in 15 he uses the word “we”.  He doesn’t say “I” or “me” or “mine”.  Go back and read verse 11, where he reminds those who are causing this division, those who claimed to follow Peter, Apollos or someone else besides Paul, that “we” preached the same Gospel and you believed the same gospel.  In other words, this thought process of no resurrection of the dead did not come from Peter, Apollos, Paul or any other preacher of the Gospel!!  It came from outside the Gospel message, and it was not what they first believed…

 

Paul continues with the idea that if what the Corinthians proclaimed was true, then Peter, Apollos, Paul, and others were false witnesses and were claiming for God something which God did not do; thus, they were breaking one of the commandments found in Deuteronomy.  (In the fourth chapter of that book, God tells Moses to tell the people not to add or take away from the commandments He is leaving with them, that they may dwell long in the land in which they are about to go and possess.)  Now, some in Corinth might have been willing to claim these things regarding false witness by Paul, but not about their favorite leader, the one they claimed to follow.

Paul then tells them that if the dead do not rise, which includes Jesus, then their faith is futile. There is no forgiveness of sins.  They are all living in their sins.  If there is no resurrection, there is no forgiveness, because there is no justification.  And there is no justification because there is no resurrection.  You see, the crucifixion is not complete without the resurrection!

 

It all goes back to an understanding about the Day of Atonement in the Jewish belief system. Even today the Day of Atonement is the holiest day in the Jewish year.  They just celebrated Passover, and that is a major celebration, but the Day of Atonement is the most reverent and solemn.  It is a day of fasting and repentance.  It is not a feast day, but a day of confessing and seeking forgiveness.  Even many non-religious Jews will honor this day.

 

During the times of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the people would bring their sacrifices. Numbers 28:7-11 says,” On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy convocation.  You shall afflict your souls.  You shall not do any work.  You shall present a burnt offering to the LORD as a sweet aroma; one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year.  Be sure they are without blemish.  Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings.”  And Leviticus 16: 30-34 tells us, “For on the day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.  It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls.  It is a statute forever.  And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments.  Then he shall make atonement for the most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.  This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.”

 

To make atonement, the High Priest would take some of the blood from the sacrifice of the young bull, place it in a bowl, and enter the Holiest place first.  This was the only time all year that it would be entered sacramentally.  (In the wilderness, it would have to be entered by the Levites in order to take down and reset at their new location).  But when it was set up permanently at Shiloh and then the temple, the High Priest and only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and only on one day, the Day of Atonement.  He would take the blood and with a hyssop branch dip it into the blood seven times and shake it those seven times at the Ark of the covenant.  Then he would do the same inside the tabernacle at the door of the tabernacle and on the priests and the people gathered at the door of the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offerings.  The belief was that the standing of the High Priest was the standing of the nation.  If God saw the High Priest as righteous, He would accept this offering. Then, the High Priest would be allowed to leave, the people would be forgiven, and all would be good for the nation until the next Day of Atonement.  However, if God didn’t see the High Priest as righteous, He would strike him down, and the people would not be forgiven, and all would not be good for the next year.  There were bells sewn along the bottom of the High Priest’s robe so the people could hear him moving.  They also tied a rope around one of the priest’s legs so that if God struck him down, they could pull him out.  Remember, no one was allowed to enter the holiest place except he who consecrated as High Priest.  The High Priest’s exit from the Holiest place meant that God had accepted their sacrifice, and they were forgiven and justified in the sight of God.  In effect, the High Priest carried the sins of the nation in the bowl of blood into the holiest place.  See the connection here?  Jesus bore our sins upon the cross and carried them into the tomb.  The resurrection meant His sacrifice had been accepted!!  With the acceptance of the sacrifice, we have forgiveness and receive justification.  No resurrection = no forgiveness and no justification.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Hebrews that Jesus is our High Priest and that His priesthood is eternal.  He sits at the right hand of the Father, which means not only is His sacrifice accepted, and we are thus justified and forgiven, but also because he paid the price with His own blood and His own life, the work of atonement is done forever.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father.  He sits because the work is finished.  And all we have to do is believe and receive.

 

Next, Paul addresses this errant thinking even more sternly.  If there is no resurrection, then those would have died in Christ are lost (Paul says “have perished”).  The Greek here means totally destroyed.  Not only is there no forgiveness or justification for the living, but those who died in the faith died believing in a lie.  Died unsaved – not forgiven and not justified.  If there is no resurrection, then what do we put our hope in?  What hope is found in the cross with no empty tomb?  What hope is found in the cross with no forgiveness available?  What hope is found in the cross with no justification? NONE!  Without the resurrection, there is no power.  Without the resurrection, the finished work on the cross is just a finished life.

 

Paul wants the believers in Corinth to see the foolishness of their argument.

 

Unfortunately, there are many in the church today who are willing to accept a Christianity without power.  They accept Jesus, not as Lord and Savior (although those words are used) but as a teacher and example of how to live a good life.  There are those who question the stories of healing and signs and miracles, not believing that they really happened but were just symbols of life.  And always there are those who question the authority of Scripture, picking and choosing what they want to believe, or what they can agree with.  Some even think that serving humanity in Christ’s name is the same as serving Christ and allowing Him to work through us to bless humanity.   One viewpoint is like asking “What would Jesus do?”  The other is like asking, “Lord, what would you have us do?”  The first is based on what we think; the second is based on searching out His will.  The first is based on creating Christ in our own image; the second is based on submission to a holy and righteous God who through His grace allows us to be recreated into His image…

 

The good news is, there is a resurrection!  Jesus was raised from the grave.  It is continual, complete, and eternal.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His power.  We are able to believe in the authority and truthfulness of His Word.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His forgiveness and justification in this life.  Because there is a resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in their faith will not see destruction or corruption but a new incorruptible body.  Because there is a resurrection, we have hope – confident expectation – not only in this life but also in the life to come.

 

He is Risen!  And so are we!

 

AMEN!

 

Remember to continue to claim Psalm 91in the first person.

 

Blessing:

Now may the God who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave, resurrect you life today. That you may walk in the power of our resurrected Lord and the presence of His Holy Spirit! AMEN

 

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

12.) Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13.) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

14.) And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.

15.) Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—in fact the dead do not rise.

16.) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

17.) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

18.) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19.) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

 

In the message last week (I Cor 15:1-11), Paul began his argument for the resurrection of the dead by stating two points of common ground, two points on which he knew the Corinthians agreed with him:  1) that he didn’t measure up as an apostle and 2) that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  Remember, there was a group in the Corinthian church who claimed there was no resurrection of the dead for the believers.  Also remember that this thinking stemmed from the Greek mindset of an everlasting soul, but not an everlasting body.  As far as these persons were concerned, the body would be corrupted beyond repair.

 

In today’s Scriptures, Paul begins by asking a question, “If it has been proclaimed that Christ is raised from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”  In other words, you say on one hand that you believe that Christ was raised from the dead, but you also say you don’t believe in the resurrection of the believer from the dead.  He goes on to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.  Either there is a resurrection or there is not a resurrection.  If what they said was correct, and there is no resurrection for the believer, then there was no resurrection for Jesus, either.  In these 8 verses, Paul uses the word risen or raised up seven times.  In the Greek, this means to go from death to standing, and it is in the present perfect tense; therefore, it is continual, without interruption or end.

 

Paul then tells them that if Christ is not risen, then “our” preaching (literally, proclamation of the Gospel) is empty. That everything they have heard and seen is a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind; and their faith (which is used by Paul as saving faith, the belief in Christ’s finished work and our justification) is also a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind.

 

Notice in verse 14 Paul says “our” and in 15 he uses the word “we”.  He doesn’t say “I” or “me” or “mine”.  Go back and read verse 11, where he reminds those who are causing this division, those who claimed to follow Peter, Apollos or someone else besides Paul, that “we” preached the same Gospel and you believed the same gospel.  In other words, this thought process of no resurrection of the dead did not come from Peter, Apollos, Paul or any other preacher of the Gospel!!  It came from outside the Gospel message, and it was not what they first believed…

 

Paul continues with the idea that if what the Corinthians proclaimed was true, then Peter, Apollos, Paul, and others were false witnesses and were claiming for God something which God did not do; thus, they were breaking one of the commandments found in Deuteronomy.  (In the fourth chapter of that book, God tells Moses to tell the people not to add or take away from the commandments He is leaving with them, that they may dwell long in the land in which they are about to go and possess.)  Now, some in Corinth might have been willing to claim these things regarding false witness by Paul, but not about their favorite leader, the one they claimed to follow.

Paul then tells them that if the dead do not rise, which includes Jesus, then their faith is futile. There is no forgiveness of sins.  They are all living in their sins.  If there is no resurrection, there is no forgiveness, because there is no justification.  And there is no justification because there is no resurrection.  You see, the crucifixion is not complete without the resurrection!

 

It all goes back to an understanding about the Day of Atonement in the Jewish belief system. Even today the Day of Atonement is the holiest day in the Jewish year.  They just celebrated Passover, and that is a major celebration, but the Day of Atonement is the most reverent and solemn.  It is a day of fasting and repentance.  It is not a feast day, but a day of confessing and seeking forgiveness.  Even many non-religious Jews will honor this day.

 

During the times of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the people would bring their sacrifices. Numbers 28:7-11 says,” On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy convocation.  You shall afflict your souls.  You shall not do any work.  You shall present a burnt offering to the LORD as a sweet aroma; one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year.  Be sure they are without blemish.  Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings.”  And Leviticus 16: 30-34 tells us, “For on the day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.  It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls.  It is a statute forever.  And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments.  Then he shall make atonement for the most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.  This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.”

 

To make atonement, the High Priest would take some of the blood from the sacrifice of the young bull, place it in a bowl, and enter the Holiest place first.  This was the only time all year that it would be entered sacramentally.  (In the wilderness, it would have to be entered by the Levites in order to take down and reset at their new location).  But when it was set up permanently at Shiloh and then the temple, the High Priest and only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and only on one day, the Day of Atonement.  He would take the blood and with a hyssop branch dip it into the blood seven times and shake it those seven times at the Ark of the covenant.  Then he would do the same inside the tabernacle at the door of the tabernacle and on the priests and the people gathered at the door of the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offerings.  The belief was that the standing of the High Priest was the standing of the nation.  If God saw the High Priest as righteous, He would accept this offering. Then, the High Priest would be allowed to leave, the people would be forgiven, and all would be good for the nation until the next Day of Atonement.  However, if God didn’t see the High Priest as righteous, He would strike him down, and the people would not be forgiven, and all would not be good for the next year.  There were bells sewn along the bottom of the High Priest’s robe so the people could hear him moving.  They also tied a rope around one of the priest’s legs so that if God struck him down, they could pull him out.  Remember, no one was allowed to enter the holiest place except he who consecrated as High Priest.  The High Priest’s exit from the Holiest place meant that God had accepted their sacrifice, and they were forgiven and justified in the sight of God.  In effect, the High Priest carried the sins of the nation in the bowl of blood into the holiest place.  See the connection here?  Jesus bore our sins upon the cross and carried them into the tomb.  The resurrection meant His sacrifice had been accepted!!  With the acceptance of the sacrifice, we have forgiveness and receive justification.  No resurrection = no forgiveness and no justification.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Hebrews that Jesus is our High Priest and that His priesthood is eternal.  He sits at the right hand of the Father, which means not only is His sacrifice accepted, and we are thus justified and forgiven, but also because he paid the price with His own blood and His own life, the work of atonement is done forever.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father.  He sits because the work is finished.  And all we have to do is believe and receive.

 

Next, Paul addresses this errant thinking even more sternly.  If there is no resurrection, then those would have died in Christ are lost (Paul says “have perished”).  The Greek here means totally destroyed.  Not only is there no forgiveness or justification for the living, but those who died in the faith died believing in a lie.  Died unsaved – not forgiven and not justified.  If there is no resurrection, then what do we put our hope in?  What hope is found in the cross with no empty tomb?  What hope is found in the cross with no forgiveness available?  What hope is found in the cross with no justification? NONE!  Without the resurrection, there is no power.  Without the resurrection, the finished work on the cross is just a finished life.

 

Paul wants the believers in Corinth to see the foolishness of their argument.

 

Unfortunately, there are many in the church today who are willing to accept a Christianity without power.  They accept Jesus, not as Lord and Savior (although those words are used) but as a teacher and example of how to live a good life.  There are those who question the stories of healing and signs and miracles, not believing that they really happened but were just symbols of life.  And always there are those who question the authority of Scripture, picking and choosing what they want to believe, or what they can agree with.  Some even think that serving humanity in Christ’s name is the same as serving Christ and allowing Him to work through us to bless humanity.   One viewpoint is like asking “What would Jesus do?”  The other is like asking, “Lord, what would you have us do?”  The first is based on what we think; the second is based on searching out His will.  The first is based on creating Christ in our own image; the second is based on submission to a holy and righteous God who through His grace allows us to be recreated into His image…

 

The good news is, there is a resurrection!  Jesus was raised from the grave.  It is continual, complete, and eternal.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His power.  We are able to believe in the authority and truthfulness of His Word.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His forgiveness and justification in this life.  Because there is a resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in their faith will not see destruction or corruption but a new incorruptible body.  Because there is a resurrection, we have hope – confident expectation – not only in this life but also in the life to come.

 

He is Risen!  And so are we!

 

AMEN!

 

Remember to continue to claim Psalm 91in the first person.

 

Blessing:

Now may the God who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave, resurrect you life today. That you may walk in the power of our resurrected Lord and the presence of His Holy Spirit! AMEN

 

 

 

 

1.) Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,

2.) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

3.) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

4.) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures,

5.) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

6.) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

7.) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

8.) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9.) For I am the least of the apostles, who am 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; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11.) Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

 

Today we resume our study of 1st Corinthians, beginning with the 15th chapter.  Paul moves from his discussion of what entails proper worship to another issue:  the resurrection.

 

Last week I shared from Colossians about the resurrection.  There, also, Paul was dealing with a form of Gnosticism that was very Jewish in nature, which was very works oriented.  There Paul tried to reiterate to the Colossians that through their faith and baptism they had died and been resurrected with Christ.  There was no need for all the earning of levels to get to the throne of God.  Through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, His resurrection, and ascension, believers already had access to God freely given.

 

The situation in Corinth was different because here Paul was dealing with a Greek mindset.  Now, the Gnosticism that Paul was dealing with in 52 A.D. was not the Gnosticism that would plague the church a hundred years later.  The situation in Corinth was a belief prevalent throughout Greek society.  You see, the Greeks believed in the eternity of the soul but not in the eternity of the body.  The body would decay and become corrupted.  So, with a belief in the eternity of the soul, combined with an enthusiastic grasping for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of tongues, who needed an eternal body?  A belief in a need for a resurrected body was being challenged by some in the Corinthian church.  It did not mean that they didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus (that would become more prominent about 100 years later), but some were arguing against the resurrection of believers, or even the need for it.

 

What is interesting is the strategy Paul used to begin his argument. These first 11 verses were just the beginning, and Paul would carry this argument throughout the whole 15th chapter.  He begins his defense for the resurrection of believers by finding two points on which he and the church can agree.

Point number one is the Gospel of salvation.  In verse 1, Paul says,  “I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand,(vs2) by which also you are saved.”  When we read these words, we can easily see that Paul believes the Corinthians are still living in their salvation.  He didn’t say “were saved” but “ by which also you ARE saved.”  He states,  “I know you believe these three things: 1) Christ died for your sins.  You believe in sin, the presence of sin in the world, the power of sin in the world, the presence of sin in your life.  That you were powerless over that sin, and that Christ’s finished work on the cross washed you from all your sins. 2) Christ was buried.  (Being buried means He was really dead. They believed that Jesus really died.  In the Gospels, Jesus raised three people from the dead.  Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. Jairus’ daughter was less than a couple of hours , the widow’s son definitely less than a day, probably less than six hours. People could argue that these two were not really dead, just unconscious in some way.  Lazarus, on the other hand, no one could deny.  He had been in the tomb four days before being brought back to life.  The Jews believed that unrecoverable corruption occurred by the third day, so Paul says that the Corinthian church believes with him that Jesus died for their salvation and the salvation of the world, and that He really, truly died.) and 3) Jesus rose again on the third day, and they believed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

These are three very important tenants of the faith.  They capture the work of both the Son and the Father: Jesus’s finished work on the cross, His taking away of all our sins, (not just covering up, but the total destruction of all our sins) through His burial, and the Father justifying us through His resurrection of Jesus. This meant the debt was completely paid, once and for all.

 

Then Paul listed a whole host of witnesses. These are not in chronological order, but first mentioned is Peter, who Luke tells us in Acts Jesus saw.  Then there were the twelve, referring to the original disciples (although we know that the first time there were only 10 because Thomas was absent and Judas was dead).  The 500 brethren are believed to be those who saw Jesus’s ascension in Galilee. Next mentioned was Jesus’ half-brother, James, who became a believer after Jesus’ resurrection, and then the apostles which were those who became part of the church in Jerusalem before Jesus’ ascension.  Last listed is Paul himself.  You see, the church at Corinth could not deny the issue at this time because they had met many of these listed people, and some they even claimed to follow, like Peter.

 

Paul’s apostleship was the second point on which he knew that he and the Corinthian church could agree.  He had already dealt with this once at the beginning of this letter.  There was a division over Paul’s apostleship, which meant a division over his authority.  Some people preferred Apollos, and others preferred Peter, although it has never been proven Peter had ever been to Corinth.  Even though Paul was the founding father of this church, for all kinds of reasons they didn’t think he was worthy to be called an apostle.

 

Paul agreed with them, referencing himself as “one born out of due time.”  In literal Greek, he was saying, “I was stillborn, a miscarriage.”  Do you catch his humility here? He said that he was the least of the apostles, inadequate, not good enough.  While he and the Corinthians agreed on the status, I don’t think it was for the same reasons.  Paul carried around the knowledge and the weight of the fact that he had been a persecutor of the church.  The Corinthians believed he didn’t qualify for other reasons, but they both believed Paul just didn’t measure up…

 

Paul didn’t say, “But I came here, didn’t I?  You would have never heard the gospel if I hadn’t come! You would have been still a bunch of unsaved pagans if I hadn’t come!”  No.  Instead, he gave all the credit to God and His grace.  God’s undeserved favor.   In essence Paul was saying, “I am an apostle not because of anything I have done, but because of God’s undeserved favor. Nothing that I have done makes me worthy, adequate, or good enough.  It is God’s grace that has made my work fruitful.  You are now a church, and there are other churches in Greece and Asia Minor because God’s undeserved favor was with me.”  The word with in the Greek literally means an inseparable relationship.  Paul was literally telling them, “I know what you think of me, but all I have done and will ever do is not based on me, but on the grace of God.”

 

Then he made reference to the beginning of his letter where he talked about divisions, with some who follow Apollos, some Peter, and some who say they only follow Jesus.  Paul reminded them that they all preached the same message, the same Gospel, and they had all believed the same thing – that Gospel.

 

Notice that Paul began this crucial presentation by finding common ground. I wonder in our world and our lives how far we might get if instead of immediately pouncing on our differences we focused on the thing we have in common in our world, our country.  I remember hearing and reading stories of President Reagan and Tip O’Neil doing all-nighters at the White House, both pledging not to leave till they had a deal worked out.  Of course I understand whiskey probably played its part as well… But could you imagine President Trump and the Democratic leadership doing that today?…. In the world church of United Methodism, we surely have some things in common.  Imagine if the delegates attended General Conference not focused on their own agendas but finding common ground to work together and still be servants of God!  Who knows – maybe this will be one good thing to come out of the viral pandemic impacting our lives.

 

The promise of our resurrection is important!  It carries the promise of living and reigning with Jesus.  The promise that we will not only be with Him but also like Him.  And in the next few weeks, Paul will be telling us why.

 

AMEN

 

Remember during this time to read Psalm 91 in the first person and claim it.  Every day.

 

Blessings and Peace:  Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship and communion of His Holy Spirit, be with you, guide you and keep you unto Him. Amen

 

1.) If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

2.) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

3.) For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4.) When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

 

EASTER SUNDAY

 

HAPPY EASTER!  I miss being with you on this most holy of days for the church.  My hope is that it will be for you a great family day as much as is possible.

 

Our text this morning comes from Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse.  Paul did not found this church, nor had he ever visited it.  It was actually founded by Epaphras with help from Timothy; but Paul was good friends with Epaphras, and we know that he considered Timothy a son.  You will see Epaphras mentioned in other letters where he had provided for or helped Paul with something.  As a matter of fact, this letter is an answer to a letter delivered by Epaphras to Paul as he was awaiting trial in Rome.

 

Paul was writing in response to a problem of a form of Gnosticism that was rearing its ugly head in Colosse.  This city was located in the Lycus River valley in central Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.  Along with its sister cities, Laodicea and Hierapolis, Colosse had a very large Jewish population, many of whom had been taken there by the Babylonians.  This population had been there so long that even under the rule of the Greeks and the Romans, they were able to pay the temple tax back in Jerusalem, and it was considered tax exempt by the ruling authorities.  Many of the Jews from this area would travel to Jerusalem for the Passover and the other two major Jewish feasts.  The Gospel was probably heard by pilgrims from this area on the day of Pentecost.

 

The form of Gnosticism encountered in Colosse was different than that confronted in the Greek churches.  Where the Greek form was all about the attainment of knowledge, this form in Colosse was thoroughly Jewish.  There was belief in God and belief in Jesus, but that wasn’t enough.  The thought process was that one must seek enlightenment – by earning it!  One earned it by working to achieve different levels.  It was like an early game of Dungeons and Dragons or most role-playing games today, where after mastering one level there is always another higher level to attain.  For Colosse Gnostics, some levels required the help of angels, some levels required a fight with angels, and yet in other levels there was actual worship of angels. The whole goal was to make it to the throne room of God, to earn a way into God’s presence.

 

Right off the bat we can see what the issue was.  It totally ignored the cross.  It totally ignored the finished work of Christ.  It totally ignored the finished work of the Father, which was the resurrection and the ascension of the Son.  The finished work of Jesus was concluded on the cross.  He shed His blood for our redemption, and He gave His life for our forgiveness.  But God’s finished work occurred when He raised Jesus from the grave and sat Him at His right hand.  The blood and the death opened the doors for salvation, but the resurrection and the ascension made it a done deal.

 

The resurrection of Christ and the restoration of life proves that the debt of sin has been completely paid.  It means justification for the believer.  We are not just forgiven – we are justified in the eyes of God!  As humans, we can forgive a person for something terrible they have done to us, but that doesn’t mean we want to be around them.  Yet when a person is justified, they are not only forgiven but also wanted.  The ascension proves that the work of the cross is complete because Jesus is now sitting at the Father’s right hand.

 

Jesus is also our High Priest.  Before the cross, in the Tabernacle and subsequently in the Temple, there was a table with the show bread on it; but there were no chairs.  No chairs in the court of the holy or the Holy of Holies.  This meant that the priests’ work was never done.  They did not have a place to sit because they did not have time to sit.  Since the resurrection and ascension, the Father sat Jesus at His right hand.  Jesus sitting means that the work of salvation is done.

 

Paul sharing with us in Colossians says, “If you are baptized in Christ, then you died with Christ, then you were raised with Christ.” This means that through professing and possessing our faith in Christ and His finished work, through our baptism, we die His death and we are resurrected in His life.  As professing and possessing Christians, He is living His life through us.  Therefore, since our life is from Him, we should seek the things that are from Him, the things that are from above. We should seek the things of Christ where He is, which is in heaven at the right hand of the Father.

 

Paul then tells us to set our minds on the things above.  The Greek for “mind on” translates to “be devoted to”.  We are to devote ourselves to the living out the life and the treasures from above.  To devote ourselves to God’s word, God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s gifts which come from the Spirit.  To devote ourselves to doing His will, following His direction, allowing Him to do His work through us instead of hoping He will add His name to what we want to do.  We are to devote ourselves to following His will and walking in His power, to being citizens of heaven and strangers in this world.

 

Paul says that since we died and were raised with Christ our eternal life is sure, our eternal salvation is sure.  There are no doubts, for it is hidden with Christ in God.  Remember, Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

(Matthew6:19-21). Our treasure – our eternal salvation, our eternal life – is sure because it is in heaven with Christ IN God the Father.  It is where our true citizenship resides.

 

The promise continues when Paul proclaims that our salvation is so sure that when Jesus comes again, when He appears, we will appear with Him.  The word “appears” in the Greek translates as “to manifest oneself openly.”  Therefore, when Jesus returns, He won’t be hard to find.  The world will see Him, and not only see Him but see him in all His glory!  The Greek for “glory” means “eternal exalted state.” So, Jesus will be seen and made manifest openly to all in His eternal exalted glory.  But not only will the world see Jesus, it will also see us – openly sharing with Him and in His eternal exalted state.

 

Paul is asking, “Why?  Why are you falling for this false doctrine?  Why do you think that you have to jump through all these hoops and levels and seek or fight or worship angels to present yourself to the throne room of God?  Jesus has already done it for you!”  As Bob Hartman writes, “The provision has been made, the foundation has been laid, He paid the ransom due, tore the temple veil in two, and opened up the way for me and you.  IT IS FINISHED!”

 

We may not be like some of the people in Colosse, but there are those who think that grace is not enough.  They come up with new ideas, new concepts to earn our way:  Pray this way, and you’ll get God’s attention.  Read so many chapters a day in your Bible, and God will have to take notice.  Do this job or that mission.  Believe this way versus that other way.  It is as if Jesus was not and is not enough.

 

The GOOD NEWS is, Jesus is MORE THAN ENOUGH!  This morning we celebrate His resurrection.  HE IS RISEN!  Death no longer has any power over Him.  Since as believers we are baptized in His name, we have died and risen with Him.  Death no longer has any power over us.  Our salvation is sure because the One who holds our eternal life in His hands is sitting at the right hand of God Almighty.  All that we should want, need, desire, and be devoted to is sitting at the right hand of God.  And all we have to do is say, “Hey, Daddy! Hey, Lord!”

 

 

BLESSING:

Now may the presence of our resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, and the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father resurrect your faith to greater faith. Amen

 

Be sure to continue to read Psalm 91 in the first person and claim it each day.

 

 

 

 

Colossians 3:1-4

1.) If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

2.) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

3.) For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4.) When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

 

EASTER SUNDAY

 

HAPPY EASTER!  I miss being with you on this most holy of days for the church.  My hope is that it will be for you a great family day as much as is possible.

 

Our text this morning comes from Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse.  Paul did not found this church, nor had he ever visited it.  It was actually founded by Epaphras with help from Timothy; but Paul was good friends with Epaphras, and we know that he considered Timothy a son.  You will see Epaphras mentioned in other letters where he had provided for or helped Paul with something.  As a matter of fact, this letter is an answer to a letter delivered by Epaphras to Paul as he was awaiting trial in Rome.

 

Paul was writing in response to a problem of a form of Gnosticism that was rearing its ugly head in Colosse.  This city was located in the Lycus River valley in central Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.  Along with its sister cities, Laodicea and Hierapolis, Colosse had a very large Jewish population, many of whom had been taken there by the Babylonians.  This population had been there so long that even under the rule of the Greeks and the Romans, they were able to pay the temple tax back in Jerusalem, and it was considered tax exempt by the ruling authorities.  Many of the Jews from this area would travel to Jerusalem for the Passover and the other two major Jewish feasts.  The Gospel was probably heard by pilgrims from this area on the day of Pentecost.

 

The form of Gnosticism encountered in Colosse was different than that confronted in the Greek churches.  Where the Greek form was all about the attainment of knowledge, this form in Colosse was thoroughly Jewish.  There was belief in God and belief in Jesus, but that wasn’t enough.  The thought process was that one must seek enlightenment – by earning it!  One earned it by working to achieve different levels.  It was like an early game of Dungeons and Dragons or most role-playing games today, where after mastering one level there is always another higher level to attain.  For Colosse Gnostics, some levels required the help of angels, some levels required a fight with angels, and yet in other levels there was actual worship of angels. The whole goal was to make it to the throne room of God, to earn a way into God’s presence.

 

Right off the bat we can see what the issue was.  It totally ignored the cross.  It totally ignored the finished work of Christ.  It totally ignored the finished work of the Father, which was the resurrection and the ascension of the Son.  The finished work of Jesus was concluded on the cross.  He shed His blood for our redemption, and He gave His life for our forgiveness.  But God’s finished work occurred when He raised Jesus from the grave and sat Him at His right hand.  The blood and the death opened the doors for salvation, but the resurrection and the ascension made it a done deal.

 

The resurrection of Christ and the restoration of life proves that the debt of sin has been completely paid.  It means justification for the believer.  We are not just forgiven – we are justified in the eyes of God!  As humans, we can forgive a person for something terrible they have done to us, but that doesn’t mean we want to be around them.  Yet when a person is justified, they are not only forgiven but also wanted.  The ascension proves that the work of the cross is complete because Jesus is now sitting at the Father’s right hand.

 

Jesus is also our High Priest.  Before the cross, in the Tabernacle and subsequently in the Temple, there was a table with the show bread on it; but there were no chairs.  No chairs in the court of the holy or the Holy of Holies.  This meant that the priests’ work was never done.  They did not have a place to sit because they did not have time to sit.  Since the resurrection and ascension, the Father sat Jesus at His right hand.  Jesus sitting means that the work of salvation is done.

 

Paul sharing with us in Colossians says, “If you are baptized in Christ, then you died with Christ, then you were raised with Christ.” This means that through professing and possessing our faith in Christ and His finished work, through our baptism, we die His death and we are resurrected in His life.  As professing and possessing Christians, He is living His life through us.  Therefore, since our life is from Him, we should seek the things that are from Him, the things that are from above. We should seek the things of Christ where He is, which is in heaven at the right hand of the Father.

 

Paul then tells us to set our minds on the things above.  The Greek for “mind on” translates to “be devoted to”.  We are to devote ourselves to the living out the life and the treasures from above.  To devote ourselves to God’s word, God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s gifts which come from the Spirit.  To devote ourselves to doing His will, following His direction, allowing Him to do His work through us instead of hoping He will add His name to what we want to do.  We are to devote ourselves to following His will and walking in His power, to being citizens of heaven and strangers in this world.

 

Paul says that since we died and were raised with Christ our eternal life is sure, our eternal salvation is sure.  There are no doubts, for it is hidden with Christ in God.  Remember, Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

(Matthew6:19-21). Our treasure – our eternal salvation, our eternal life – is sure because it is in heaven with Christ IN God the Father.  It is where our true citizenship resides.

 

The promise continues when Paul proclaims that our salvation is so sure that when Jesus comes again, when He appears, we will appear with Him.  The word “appears” in the Greek translates as “to manifest oneself openly.”  Therefore, when Jesus returns, He won’t be hard to find.  The world will see Him, and not only see Him but see him in all His glory!  The Greek for “glory” means “eternal exalted state.” So, Jesus will be seen and made manifest openly to all in His eternal exalted glory.  But not only will the world see Jesus, it will also see us – openly sharing with Him and in His eternal exalted state.

 

Paul is asking, “Why?  Why are you falling for this false doctrine?  Why do you think that you have to jump through all these hoops and levels and seek or fight or worship angels to present yourself to the throne room of God?  Jesus has already done it for you!”  As Bob Hartman writes, “The provision has been made, the foundation has been laid, He paid the ransom due, tore the temple veil in two, and opened up the way for me and you.  IT IS FINISHED!”

 

We may not be like some of the people in Colosse, but there are those who think that grace is not enough.  They come up with new ideas, new concepts to earn our way:  Pray this way, and you’ll get God’s attention.  Read so many chapters a day in your Bible, and God will have to take notice.  Do this job or that mission.  Believe this way versus that other way.  It is as if Jesus was not and is not enough.

 

The GOOD NEWS is, Jesus is MORE THAN ENOUGH!  This morning we celebrate His resurrection.  HE IS RISEN!  Death no longer has any power over Him.  Since as believers we are baptized in His name, we have died and risen with Him.  Death no longer has any power over us.  Our salvation is sure because the One who holds our eternal life in His hands is sitting at the right hand of God Almighty.  All that we should want, need, desire, and be devoted to is sitting at the right hand of God.  And all we have to do is say, “Hey, Daddy! Hey, Lord!”

 

 

BLESSING:

Now may the presence of our resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, and the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father resurrect your faith to greater faith. Amen

 

Be sure to continue to read Psalm 91 in the first person and claim it each day.

 

 

 

 

12.) Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13.) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

14.) And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.

15.) Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—in fact the dead do not rise.

16.) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

17.) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

18.) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19.) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

 

In the message last week (I Cor 15:1-11), Paul began his argument for the resurrection of the dead by stating two points of common ground, two points on which he knew the Corinthians agreed with him:  1) that he didn’t measure up as an apostle and 2) that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  Remember, there was a group in the Corinthian church who claimed there was no resurrection of the dead for the believers.  Also remember that this thinking stemmed from the Greek mindset of an everlasting soul, but not an everlasting body.  As far as these persons were concerned, the body would be corrupted beyond repair.

 

In today’s Scriptures, Paul begins by asking a question, “If it has been proclaimed that Christ is raised from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”  In other words, you say on one hand that you believe that Christ was raised from the dead, but you also say you don’t believe in the resurrection of the believer from the dead.  He goes on to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.  Either there is a resurrection or there is not a resurrection.  If what they said was correct, and there is no resurrection for the believer, then there was no resurrection for Jesus, either.  In these 8 verses, Paul uses the word risen or raised up seven times.  In the Greek, this means to go from death to standing, and it is in the present perfect tense; therefore, it is continual, without interruption or end.

 

Paul then tells them that if Christ is not risen, then “our” preaching (literally, proclamation of the Gospel) is empty. That everything they have heard and seen is a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind; and their faith (which is used by Paul as saving faith, the belief in Christ’s finished work and our justification) is also a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind.

 

Notice in verse 14 Paul says “our” and in 15 he uses the word “we”.  He doesn’t say “I” or “me” or “mine”.  Go back and read verse 11, where he reminds those who are causing this division, those who claimed to follow Peter, Apollos or someone else besides Paul, that “we” preached the same Gospel and you believed the same gospel.  In other words, this thought process of no resurrection of the dead did not come from Peter, Apollos, Paul or any other preacher of the Gospel!!  It came from outside the Gospel message, and it was not what they first believed…

 

Paul continues with the idea that if what the Corinthians proclaimed was true, then Peter, Apollos, Paul, and others were false witnesses and were claiming for God something which God did not do; thus, they were breaking one of the commandments found in Deuteronomy.  (In the fourth chapter of that book, God tells Moses to tell the people not to add or take away from the commandments He is leaving with them, that they may dwell long in the land in which they are about to go and possess.)  Now, some in Corinth might have been willing to claim these things regarding false witness by Paul, but not about their favorite leader, the one they claimed to follow.

Paul then tells them that if the dead do not rise, which includes Jesus, then their faith is futile. There is no forgiveness of sins.  They are all living in their sins.  If there is no resurrection, there is no forgiveness, because there is no justification.  And there is no justification because there is no resurrection.  You see, the crucifixion is not complete without the resurrection!

It all goes back to an understanding about the Day of Atonement in the Jewish belief system. Even today the Day of Atonement is the holiest day in the Jewish year.  They just celebrated Passover, and that is a major celebration, but the Day of Atonement is the most reverent and solemn.  It is a day of fasting and repentance.  It is not a feast day, but a day of confessing and seeking forgiveness.  Even many non-religious Jews will honor this day.

During the times of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the people would bring their sacrifices. Numbers 28:7-11 says,” On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy convocation.  You shall afflict your souls.  You shall not do any work.  You shall present a burnt offering to the LORD as a sweet aroma; one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year.  Be sure they are without blemish.  Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings.”  And Leviticus 16: 30-34 tells us, “For on the day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.  It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls.  It is a statute forever.  And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments.  Then he shall make atonement for the most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.  This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.”

To make atonement, the High Priest would take some of the blood from the sacrifice of the young bull, place it in a bowl, and enter the Holiest place first.  This was the only time all year that it would be entered sacramentally.  (In the wilderness, it would have to be entered by the Levites in order to take down and reset at their new location).  But when it was set up permanently at Shiloh and then the temple, the High Priest and only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and only on one day, the Day of Atonement.  He would take the blood and with a hyssop branch dip it into the blood seven times and shake it those seven times at the Ark of the covenant.  Then he would do the same inside the tabernacle at the door of the tabernacle and on the priests and the people gathered at the door of the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offerings.  The belief was that the standing of the High Priest was the standing of the nation.  If God saw the High Priest as righteous, He would accept this offering. Then, the High Priest would be allowed to leave, the people would be forgiven, and all would be good for the nation until the next Day of Atonement.  However, if God didn’t see the High Priest as righteous, He would strike him down, and the people would not be forgiven, and all would not be good for the next year.  There were bells sewn along the bottom of the High Priest’s robe so the people could hear him moving.  They also tied a rope around one of the priest’s legs so that if God struck him down, they could pull him out.  Remember, no one was allowed to enter the holiest place except he who consecrated as High Priest.  The High Priest’s exit from the Holiest place meant that God had accepted their sacrifice, and they were forgiven and justified in the sight of God.  In effect, the High Priest carried the sins of the nation in the bowl of blood into the holiest place.  See the connection here?  Jesus bore our sins upon the cross and carried them into the tomb.  The resurrection meant His sacrifice had been accepted!!  With the acceptance of the sacrifice, we have forgiveness and receive justification.  No resurrection = no forgiveness and no justification.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Hebrews that Jesus is our High Priest and that His priesthood is eternal.  He sits at the right hand of the Father, which means not only is His sacrifice accepted, and we are thus justified and forgiven, but also because he paid the price with His own blood and His own life, the work of atonement is done forever.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father.  He sits because the work is finished.  And all we have to do is believe and receive.

 

Next, Paul addresses this errant thinking even more sternly.  If there is no resurrection, then those would have died in Christ are lost (Paul says “have perished”).  The Greek here means totally destroyed.  Not only is there no forgiveness or justification for the living, but those who died in the faith died believing in a lie.  Died unsaved – not forgiven and not justified.  If there is no resurrection, then what do we put our hope in?  What hope is found in the cross with no empty tomb?  What hope is found in the cross with no forgiveness available?  What hope is found in the cross with no justification? NONE!  Without the resurrection, there is no power.  Without the resurrection, the finished work on the cross is just a finished life.

 

Paul wants the believers in Corinth to see the foolishness of their argument.

 

Unfortunately, there are many in the church today who are willing to accept a Christianity without power.  They accept Jesus, not as Lord and Savior (although those words are used) but as a teacher and example of how to live a good life.  There are those who question the stories of healing and signs and miracles, not believing that they really happened but were just symbols of life.  And always there are those who question the authority of Scripture, picking and choosing what they want to believe, or what they can agree with.  Some even think that serving humanity in Christ’s name is the same as serving Christ and allowing Him to work through us to bless humanity.   One viewpoint is like asking “What would Jesus do?”  The other is like asking, “Lord, what would you have us do?”  The first is based on what we think; the second is based on searching out His will.  The first is based on creating Christ in our own image; the second is based on submission to a holy and righteous God who through His grace allows us to be recreated into His image…

 

The good news is, there is a resurrection!  Jesus was raised from the grave.  It is continual, complete, and eternal.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His power.  We are able to believe in the authority and truthfulness of His Word.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His forgiveness and justification in this life.  Because there is a resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in their faith will not see destruction or corruption but a new incorruptible body.  Because there is a resurrection, we have hope – confident expectation – not only in this life but also in the life to come.

 

He is Risen!  And so are we!

 

AMEN!

 

Remember to continue to claim Psalm 91in the first person.

 

Blessing:

Now may the God who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave, resurrect you life today. That you may walk in the power of our resurrected Lord and the presence of His Holy Spirit! AMEN

 

 

 

 

1.) Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,

2.) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

3.) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

4.) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures,

5.) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

6.) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

7.) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

8.) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9.) For I am the least of the apostles, who am 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; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11.) Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

 

Today we resume our study of 1st Corinthians, beginning with the 15th chapter.  Paul moves from his discussion of what entails proper worship to another issue:  the resurrection.

 

Last week I shared from Colossians about the resurrection.  There, also, Paul was dealing with a form of Gnosticism that was very Jewish in nature, which was very works oriented.  There Paul tried to reiterate to the Colossians that through their faith and baptism they had died and been resurrected with Christ.  There was no need for all the earning of levels to get to the throne of God.  Through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, His resurrection, and ascension, believers already had access to God freely given.

 

The situation in Corinth was different because here Paul was dealing with a Greek mindset.  Now, the Gnosticism that Paul was dealing with in 52 A.D. was not the Gnosticism that would plague the church a hundred years later.  The situation in Corinth was a belief prevalent throughout Greek society.  You see, the Greeks believed in the eternity of the soul but not in the eternity of the body.  The body would decay and become corrupted.  So, with a belief in the eternity of the soul, combined with an enthusiastic grasping for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of tongues, who needed an eternal body?  A belief in a need for a resurrected body was being challenged by some in the Corinthian church.  It did not mean that they didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus (that would become more prominent about 100 years later), but some were arguing against the resurrection of believers, or even the need for it.

 

What is interesting is the strategy Paul used to begin his argument. These first 11 verses were just the beginning, and Paul would carry this argument throughout the whole 15th chapter.  He begins his defense for the resurrection of believers by finding two points on which he and the church can agree.

Point number one is the Gospel of salvation.  In verse 1, Paul says,  “I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand,(vs2) by which also you are saved.”  When we read these words, we can easily see that Paul believes the Corinthians are still living in their salvation.  He didn’t say “were saved” but “ by which also you ARE saved.”  He states,  “I know you believe these three things: 1) Christ died for your sins.  You believe in sin, the presence of sin in the world, the power of sin in the world, the presence of sin in your life.  That you were powerless over that sin, and that Christ’s finished work on the cross washed you from all your sins. 2) Christ was buried.  (Being buried means He was really dead. They believed that Jesus really died.  In the Gospels, Jesus raised three people from the dead.  Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. Jairus’ daughter was less than a couple of hours , the widow’s son definitely less than a day, probably less than six hours. People could argue that these two were not really dead, just unconscious in some way.  Lazarus, on the other hand, no one could deny.  He had been in the tomb four days before being brought back to life.  The Jews believed that unrecoverable corruption occurred by the third day, so Paul says that the Corinthian church believes with him that Jesus died for their salvation and the salvation of the world, and that He really, truly died.) and 3) Jesus rose again on the third day, and they believed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

These are three very important tenants of the faith.  They capture the work of both the Son and the Father: Jesus’s finished work on the cross, His taking away of all our sins, (not just covering up, but the total destruction of all our sins) through His burial, and the Father justifying us through His resurrection of Jesus. This meant the debt was completely paid, once and for all.

 

Then Paul listed a whole host of witnesses. These are not in chronological order, but first mentioned is Peter, who Luke tells us in Acts Jesus saw.  Then there were the twelve, referring to the original disciples (although we know that the first time there were only 10 because Thomas was absent and Judas was dead).  The 500 brethren are believed to be those who saw Jesus’s ascension in Galilee. Next mentioned was Jesus’ half-brother, James, who became a believer after Jesus’ resurrection, and then the apostles which were those who became part of the church in Jerusalem before Jesus’ ascension.  Last listed is Paul himself.  You see, the church at Corinth could not deny the issue at this time because they had met many of these listed people, and some they even claimed to follow, like Peter.

 

Paul’s apostleship was the second point on which he knew that he and the Corinthian church could agree.  He had already dealt with this once at the beginning of this letter.  There was a division over Paul’s apostleship, which meant a division over his authority.  Some people preferred Apollos, and others preferred Peter, although it has never been proven Peter had ever been to Corinth.  Even though Paul was the founding father of this church, for all kinds of reasons they didn’t think he was worthy to be called an apostle.

 

Paul agreed with them, referencing himself as “one born out of due time.”  In literal Greek, he was saying, “I was stillborn, a miscarriage.”  Do you catch his humility here? He said that he was the least of the apostles, inadequate, not good enough.  While he and the Corinthians agreed on the status, I don’t think it was for the same reasons.  Paul carried around the knowledge and the weight of the fact that he had been a persecutor of the church.  The Corinthians believed he didn’t qualify for other reasons, but they both believed Paul just didn’t measure up…

 

Paul didn’t say, “But I came here, didn’t I?  You would have never heard the gospel if I hadn’t come! You would have been still a bunch of unsaved pagans if I hadn’t come!”  No.  Instead, he gave all the credit to God and His grace.  God’s undeserved favor.   In essence Paul was saying, “I am an apostle not because of anything I have done, but because of God’s undeserved favor. Nothing that I have done makes me worthy, adequate, or good enough.  It is God’s grace that has made my work fruitful.  You are now a church, and there are other churches in Greece and Asia Minor because God’s undeserved favor was with me.”  The word with in the Greek literally means an inseparable relationship.  Paul was literally telling them, “I know what you think of me, but all I have done and will ever do is not based on me, but on the grace of God.”

 

Then he made reference to the beginning of his letter where he talked about divisions, with some who follow Apollos, some Peter, and some who say they only follow Jesus.  Paul reminded them that they all preached the same message, the same Gospel, and they had all believed the same thing – that Gospel.

 

Notice that Paul began this crucial presentation by finding common ground. I wonder in our world and our lives how far we might get if instead of immediately pouncing on our differences we focused on the thing we have in common in our world, our country.  I remember hearing and reading stories of President Reagan and Tip O’Neil doing all-nighters at the White House, both pledging not to leave till they had a deal worked out.  Of course I understand whiskey probably played its part as well… But could you imagine President Trump and the Democratic leadership doing that today?…. In the world church of United Methodism, we surely have some things in common.  Imagine if the delegates attended General Conference not focused on their own agendas but finding common ground to work together and still be servants of God!  Who knows – maybe this will be one good thing to come out of the viral pandemic impacting our lives.

 

The promise of our resurrection is important!  It carries the promise of living and reigning with Jesus.  The promise that we will not only be with Him but also like Him.  And in the next few weeks, Paul will be telling us why.

 

AMEN

 

Remember during this time to read Psalm 91 in the first person and claim it.  Every day.

 

Blessings and Peace:  Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship and communion of His Holy Spirit, be with you, guide you and keep you unto Him. Amen

 

12.) Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13.) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

14.) And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.

15.) Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—in fact the dead do not rise.

16.) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

17.) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

18.) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19.) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

 

In the message last week (I Cor 15:1-11), Paul began his argument for the resurrection of the dead by stating two points of common ground, two points on which he knew the Corinthians agreed with him:  1) that he didn’t measure up as an apostle and 2) that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  Remember, there was a group in the Corinthian church who claimed there was no resurrection of the dead for the believers.  Also remember that this thinking stemmed from the Greek mindset of an everlasting soul, but not an everlasting body.  As far as these persons were concerned, the body would be corrupted beyond repair.

 

In today’s Scriptures, Paul begins by asking a question, “If it has been proclaimed that Christ is raised from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”  In other words, you say on one hand that you believe that Christ was raised from the dead, but you also say you don’t believe in the resurrection of the believer from the dead.  He goes on to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.  Either there is a resurrection or there is not a resurrection.  If what they said was correct, and there is no resurrection for the believer, then there was no resurrection for Jesus, either.  In these 8 verses, Paul uses the word risen or raised up seven times.  In the Greek, this means to go from death to standing, and it is in the present perfect tense; therefore, it is continual, without interruption or end.

 

Paul then tells them that if Christ is not risen, then “our” preaching (literally, proclamation of the Gospel) is empty. That everything they have heard and seen is a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind; and their faith (which is used by Paul as saving faith, the belief in Christ’s finished work and our justification) is also a farce, a lie, without meaning or truth of any kind.

 

Notice in verse 14 Paul says “our” and in 15 he uses the word “we”.  He doesn’t say “I” or “me” or “mine”.  Go back and read verse 11, where he reminds those who are causing this division, those who claimed to follow Peter, Apollos or someone else besides Paul, that “we” preached the same Gospel and you believed the same gospel.  In other words, this thought process of no resurrection of the dead did not come from Peter, Apollos, Paul or any other preacher of the Gospel!!  It came from outside the Gospel message, and it was not what they first believed…

 

Paul continues with the idea that if what the Corinthians proclaimed was true, then Peter, Apollos, Paul, and others were false witnesses and were claiming for God something which God did not do; thus, they were breaking one of the commandments found in Deuteronomy.  (In the fourth chapter of that book, God tells Moses to tell the people not to add or take away from the commandments He is leaving with them, that they may dwell long in the land in which they are about to go and possess.)  Now, some in Corinth might have been willing to claim these things regarding false witness by Paul, but not about their favorite leader, the one they claimed to follow.

Paul then tells them that if the dead do not rise, which includes Jesus, then their faith is futile. There is no forgiveness of sins.  They are all living in their sins.  If there is no resurrection, there is no forgiveness, because there is no justification.  And there is no justification because there is no resurrection.  You see, the crucifixion is not complete without the resurrection!

 

It all goes back to an understanding about the Day of Atonement in the Jewish belief system. Even today the Day of Atonement is the holiest day in the Jewish year.  They just celebrated Passover, and that is a major celebration, but the Day of Atonement is the most reverent and solemn.  It is a day of fasting and repentance.  It is not a feast day, but a day of confessing and seeking forgiveness.  Even many non-religious Jews will honor this day.

 

During the times of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the people would bring their sacrifices. Numbers 28:7-11 says,” On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy convocation.  You shall afflict your souls.  You shall not do any work.  You shall present a burnt offering to the LORD as a sweet aroma; one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year.  Be sure they are without blemish.  Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings.”  And Leviticus 16: 30-34 tells us, “For on the day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.  It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls.  It is a statute forever.  And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments.  Then he shall make atonement for the most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.  This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.”

 

To make atonement, the High Priest would take some of the blood from the sacrifice of the young bull, place it in a bowl, and enter the Holiest place first.  This was the only time all year that it would be entered sacramentally.  (In the wilderness, it would have to be entered by the Levites in order to take down and reset at their new location).  But when it was set up permanently at Shiloh and then the temple, the High Priest and only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and only on one day, the Day of Atonement.  He would take the blood and with a hyssop branch dip it into the blood seven times and shake it those seven times at the Ark of the covenant.  Then he would do the same inside the tabernacle at the door of the tabernacle and on the priests and the people gathered at the door of the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offerings.  The belief was that the standing of the High Priest was the standing of the nation.  If God saw the High Priest as righteous, He would accept this offering. Then, the High Priest would be allowed to leave, the people would be forgiven, and all would be good for the nation until the next Day of Atonement.  However, if God didn’t see the High Priest as righteous, He would strike him down, and the people would not be forgiven, and all would not be good for the next year.  There were bells sewn along the bottom of the High Priest’s robe so the people could hear him moving.  They also tied a rope around one of the priest’s legs so that if God struck him down, they could pull him out.  Remember, no one was allowed to enter the holiest place except he who consecrated as High Priest.  The High Priest’s exit from the Holiest place meant that God had accepted their sacrifice, and they were forgiven and justified in the sight of God.  In effect, the High Priest carried the sins of the nation in the bowl of blood into the holiest place.  See the connection here?  Jesus bore our sins upon the cross and carried them into the tomb.  The resurrection meant His sacrifice had been accepted!!  With the acceptance of the sacrifice, we have forgiveness and receive justification.  No resurrection = no forgiveness and no justification.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Hebrews that Jesus is our High Priest and that His priesthood is eternal.  He sits at the right hand of the Father, which means not only is His sacrifice accepted, and we are thus justified and forgiven, but also because he paid the price with His own blood and His own life, the work of atonement is done forever.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father.  He sits because the work is finished.  And all we have to do is believe and receive.

 

Next, Paul addresses this errant thinking even more sternly.  If there is no resurrection, then those would have died in Christ are lost (Paul says “have perished”).  The Greek here means totally destroyed.  Not only is there no forgiveness or justification for the living, but those who died in the faith died believing in a lie.  Died unsaved – not forgiven and not justified.  If there is no resurrection, then what do we put our hope in?  What hope is found in the cross with no empty tomb?  What hope is found in the cross with no forgiveness available?  What hope is found in the cross with no justification? NONE!  Without the resurrection, there is no power.  Without the resurrection, the finished work on the cross is just a finished life.

 

Paul wants the believers in Corinth to see the foolishness of their argument.

 

Unfortunately, there are many in the church today who are willing to accept a Christianity without power.  They accept Jesus, not as Lord and Savior (although those words are used) but as a teacher and example of how to live a good life.  There are those who question the stories of healing and signs and miracles, not believing that they really happened but were just symbols of life.  And always there are those who question the authority of Scripture, picking and choosing what they want to believe, or what they can agree with.  Some even think that serving humanity in Christ’s name is the same as serving Christ and allowing Him to work through us to bless humanity.   One viewpoint is like asking “What would Jesus do?”  The other is like asking, “Lord, what would you have us do?”  The first is based on what we think; the second is based on searching out His will.  The first is based on creating Christ in our own image; the second is based on submission to a holy and righteous God who through His grace allows us to be recreated into His image…

 

The good news is, there is a resurrection!  Jesus was raised from the grave.  It is continual, complete, and eternal.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His power.  We are able to believe in the authority and truthfulness of His Word.  Because there is a resurrection, we are able to walk in His forgiveness and justification in this life.  Because there is a resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in their faith will not see destruction or corruption but a new incorruptible body.  Because there is a resurrection, we have hope – confident expectation – not only in this life but also in the life to come.

 

He is Risen!  And so are we!

 

AMEN!

 

Remember to continue to claim Psalm 91in the first person.

 

Blessing:

Now may the God who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave, resurrect you life today. That you may walk in the power of our resurrected Lord and the presence of His Holy Spirit! AMEN

 

 

 

 

1.) Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,

2.) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

3.) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,

4.) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures,

5.) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

6.) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

7.) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

8.) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9.) For I am the least of the apostles, who am 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; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11.) Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

 

 

Today we resume our study of 1st Corinthians, beginning with the 15^th chapter.  Paul moves from his discussion of what entails proper worship to another issue:  the resurrection.

 

Last week I shared from Colossians about the resurrection.  There, also, Paul was dealing with a form of Gnosticism that was very Jewish in nature, which was very works oriented.  There Paul tried to reiterate to the Colossians that through their faith and baptism they had died and been resurrected with Christ.  There was no need for all the earning of levels to get to the throne of God.  Through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, His resurrection, and ascension, believers already had access to God freely given.

 

The situation in Corinth was different because here Paul was dealing with a Greek mindset.  Now, the Gnosticism that Paul was dealing with in 52 A.D. was not the Gnosticism that would plague the church a hundred years later.  The situation in Corinth was a belief prevalent throughout Greek society.  You see, the Greeks believed in the eternity of the soul but not in the eternity of the body.  The body would decay and become corrupted.  So, with a belief in the eternity of the soul, combined with an enthusiastic grasping for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of tongues, who needed an eternal body?  A belief in a need for a resurrected body was being challenged by some in the Corinthian church.  It did not mean that they didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus (that would become more prominent about 100 years later), but some were arguing against the resurrection of believers, or even the need for it.

 

What is interesting is the strategy Paul used to begin his argument. These first 11 verses were just the beginning, and Paul would carry this argument throughout the whole 15^th chapter.  He begins his defense for the resurrection of believers by finding two points on which he and the church can agree.

Point number one is the Gospel of salvation.  In verse 1, Paul says,  “I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand,(vs2) by which also you are saved.”  When we read these words, we can easily see that Paul believes the Corinthians are still living in their salvation.  He didn’t say “were saved” but “ by which also you ARE saved.”  He states,  “I know you believe these three things: 1) Christ died for your sins.  You believe in sin, the presence of sin in the world, the power of sin in the world, the presence of sin in your life.  That you were powerless over that sin, and that Christ’s finished work on the cross washed you from all your sins. 2) Christ was buried.  (Being buried means He was really dead. They believed that Jesus really died.  In the Gospels, Jesus raised three people from the dead.  Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. Jairus’ daughter was less than a couple of hours , the widow’s son definitely less than a day, probably less than six hours. People could argue that these two were not really dead, just unconscious in some way.  Lazarus, on the other hand, no one could deny.  He had been in the tomb four days before being brought back to life.  The Jews believed that unrecoverable corruption occurred by the third day, so Paul says that the Corinthian church believes with him that Jesus died for their salvation and the salvation of the world, and that He really, truly died.) and 3) Jesus rose again on the third day, and they believed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

These are three very important tenants of the faith.  They capture the work of both the Son and the Father: Jesus’s finished work on the cross, His taking away of all our sins, (not just covering up, but the total destruction of all our sins) through His burial, and the Father justifying us through His resurrection of Jesus. This meant the debt was completely paid, once and for all.

 

Then Paul listed a whole host of witnesses. These are not in chronological order, but first mentioned is Peter, who Luke tells us in Acts Jesus saw.  Then there were the twelve, referring to the original disciples (although we know that the first time there were only 10 because Thomas was absent and Judas was dead).  The 500 brethren are believed to be those who saw Jesus’s ascension in Galilee. Next mentioned was Jesus’ half-brother, James, who became a believer after Jesus’ resurrection, and then the apostles which were those who became part of the church in Jerusalem before Jesus’ ascension.  Last listed is Paul himself.  You see, the church at Corinth could not deny the issue at this time because they had met many of these listed people, and some they even claimed to follow, like Peter.

 

Paul’s apostleship was the second point on which he knew that he and the Corinthian church could agree.  He had already dealt with this once at the beginning of this letter.  There was a division over Paul’s apostleship, which meant a division over his authority.  Some people preferred Apollos, and others preferred Peter, although it has never been proven Peter had ever been to Corinth.  Even though Paul was the founding father of this church, for all kinds of reasons they didn’t think he was worthy to be called an apostle.

 

Paul agreed with them, referencing himself as “one born out of due time.”  In literal Greek, he was saying, “I was stillborn, a miscarriage.”  Do you catch his humility here? He said that he was the least of the apostles, inadequate, not good enough.  While he and the Corinthians agreed on the status, I don’t think it was for the same reasons.  Paul carried around the knowledge and the weight of the fact that he had been a persecutor of the church.  The Corinthians believed he didn’t qualify for other reasons, but they both believed Paul just didn’t measure up…

 

Paul didn’t say, “But I came here, didn’t I?  You would have never heard the gospel if I hadn’t come! You would have been still a bunch of unsaved pagans if I hadn’t come!”  No.  Instead, he gave all the credit to God and His grace.  God’s undeserved favor.   In essence Paul was saying, “I am an apostle not because of anything I have done, but because of God’s undeserved favor. Nothing that I have done makes me worthy, adequate, or good enough.  It is God’s grace that has made my work fruitful.  You are now a church, and there are other churches in Greece and Asia Minor because God’s undeserved favor was with me.”  The word with in the Greek literally means an inseparable relationship.  Paul was literally telling them, “I know what you think of me, but all I have done and will ever do is not based on me, but on the grace of God.”

 

Then he made reference to the beginning of his letter where he talked about divisions, with some who follow Apollos, some Peter, and some who say they only follow Jesus.  Paul reminded them that they all preached the same message, the same Gospel, and they had all believed the same thing – that Gospel.

 

Notice that Paul began this crucial presentation by finding common ground. I wonder in our world and our lives how far we might get if instead of immediately pouncing on our differences we focused on the thing we have in common in our world, our country.  I remember hearing and reading stories of President Reagan and Tip O’Neil doing all-nighters at the White House, both pledging not to leave till they had a deal worked out.  Of course I understand whiskey probably played its part as well… But could you imagine President Trump and the Democratic leadership doing that today?…. In the world church of United Methodism, we surely have some things in common.  Imagine if the delegates attended General Conference not focused on their own agendas but finding common ground to work together and still be servants of God!  Who knows – maybe this will be one good thing to come out of the viral pandemic impacting our lives.

 

The promise of our resurrection is important!  It carries the promise of living and reigning with Jesus.  The promise that we will not only be with Him but also like Him.  And in the next few weeks, Paul will be telling us why.

 

AMEN

 

Remember during this time to read Psalm 91 in the first person and claim it.  Every day.

 

 

Blessings and Peace:  Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship and communion of His Holy Spirit, be with you, guide you and keep you unto Him. Amen

 

1 Corinthians 14:20-25

20. Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.
21. In the law it is written: “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to the people; and yet for all that they will not hear Me” says the Lord.
22. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.
23. Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
24. But if all prophesy, and unbelievers or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all.
25. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.

    As we continue our study into Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Paul is still trying to help them to understand the decorum of worship, using the examples of tongues and prophesy.

Paul tells them how they should be. He wants them to be babes in malice. The Greek word for babes is nepiazo. It means to have the innocence of a newborn. But he tells them he wants them to be mature in understanding. The Greek word for understanding is phren, which is literally the gut or the diaphragm where the Greeks believed was the seat of all mental and emotional activity.  And in this understanding, he wanted them to be mature. The Greek word for mature is teleios. It can be used in different ways but here in our text today it means complete in mental and moral character.  Paul then seems to pursue another direction; but keep verse 20 in mind, because Paul will return to it later.

I do not know about you, but in reading these next verses, I became confused. Verse 22 and verse 23 seem to contradict one another. Paul says that tongues are a sign, and we remember that when Paul says a sign, that it is, some act of power which God does to show His power and describes who He is. Jesus calming the sea, Jesus feeding the 5,000, Jesus turning the water into wine. Remember, Paul separates signs (or miracles) from the gift of healing in chapter 12, so Tongues is a sign.  In verse 22, Paul says that tongues is a sign to unbelievers, and that prophesy is a sign for believers. Yet then in verse 23, he says that if an unbeliever or uninformed person came into the church and everyone was speaking in tongues, they would say you were crazy, out of your mind.  For the longest time this week, I couldn’t wrap my head around the contradiction. I kept praying, “Lord please give ME understanding.”

Then I remembered something a man whom I consider a mentor, Dr. Fred Craddock, said in one of my preaching classes: “Sometimes in your preparation you find yourself with a decision to make. Are you to preach the Scripture or the Scripture’s Scripture?” Paul does have a Scripture for our Scripture! It is Isaiah 28:11-12.  Here, the Father is really not very happy with His people. They have refused to listen to his word. They have refused to listen to his prophets. They have gone and committed adultery with the gods of the land while giving lip service to the Holy One of Israel. So he says that he is going to speak to them with other tongues. These tongues are not the spiritual Tongues of the Corinthians. These are the foreign tongues of the invaders God was going to send to punish them. For the Hebrew people to be threatened with a foreign tongue meant invasion or punishment!  It was something that was intended to frighten the people to repentance. But verse 12 says that they still would not listen….

If we understand Isaiah, then we can understand I Corinthians 14:22 & 23 better. In the real world as we know it, Tongues should be a sign to the unbeliever to show the power and presence of the One True God among His people. It should make them say, “Wow!”, while on the other hand the believers say, “Yes, it is wonderful, but it doesn’t edify.”  What happens in reality is the uninformed and the unbeliever come in and hear it and say, “They are out of their minds. They are crazy. I can go to one of the prostitution cults and hear the same thing.”  Like the Hebrew children in Isaiah’s time heard God say he was going to speak with them in a foreign tongue, which means invasion and oppression (and that which should bring fear, brings no response at all), the uninformed and the unbelievers hear the Tongues which one would think would be an incredible sign, and they walk away saying, “Those Corinthian Christians are a couple fries short of a Happy Meal!”

Remember, Paul is not trying to degrade the gift of Tongues.  He has said it is a sign, but he wants us to continue with his two underlining themes since chapter 12 – 1) love and 2) the edification of the church. Here is where verse 20 comes back into play. He wants the Corinthians to be complete in their mental and moral character. He wants them out of love to do what is best for the believer and the unbeliever  –  to edify both. And how is that done? It is done through prophecy, proclaiming God’s word to God’s people in God’s time.

In verse 24 Paul says if all prophesy and an uninformed or unbelieving person comes in and hears it, there is a chance he could be convinced by all and convicted by all. Do you see the power of the words BY ALL??   It harkens back to the first few chapters in Acts where Luke says that they were in one accord. They prayed, worshiped, and sang in one accord. They held all things in common. Paul is challenging the Corinthians to follow the example of the Christians right after the first Pentecost. To be one as the first believers were one and as Jesus and the Father are one.

What did he want them to be at one about? First, that prophecy is also a gift given by the Holy Spirit.  Second, that proclaiming God’s word to God’s people in God’s time is the major way to edify (build up) the church – not the only way, but a major way.  It does this in two ways – first, by building up the believer. As Paul tells us in Romans 1:16 &17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is reveals from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” The church is built up, the church is strengthened. The church learns better how to walk in faith. The church learns and grows in the Father’s love for them. This enables the church to love God and the other better. The church is able to develop a relationship with a living and loving Savior instead of a religion of rules and regulations. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the church can cease being a group of individuals seeking their own way, doing their own thing, believing what they want to believe, and instead be joined together as the body of Christ ministering to the world. Through the proclaiming of God’s word to God’s people in God’s time we can see where we are and be grateful for the finished work of Christ!   But we can also see where we can be, where the Father wants us to be, the joy He has for us as His children.  And through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we have greater victory, as Paul says, when we move from faith to deeper faith.

What is the second way prophecy works? Repentance unto conversion. In verses 24 & 25, Paul says that by the proclaiming of God’s word to God’s people in God’s time, the unbeliever and the uninformed will hear the word of God empowered by the Holy Spirit, and they will convinced by the unity of the believers,  and they will be convicted…..WOW – the unity of believers!  Not just unity of believing together, but unity in what they believed.  In my readings about Father Wesley, the growth of the Methodist movement has amazed me.  One reason for that growth was not just the unity of believers, but a unity in what they believed. This was held together by the small groups, the class meetings where people weekly were held accountable not only for their actions but also for their beliefs.  I have read that in America at charge conferences and district conferences and even annual conference, non-church individuals would be invited because there was going to be a worship service where an invitation would be given – a chance to receive Christ. And from what I have read, this service was considered more important than the business which was being handled…

Then I look at our church today. We have ‘United’ in our name, but we are not united. As a global church, we can’t even agree on the authority of Scripture. As a global church, we say we want to grow. We say at Jersey that we want to grow.  What non-Christian would look at our national in-fighting and out-fighting and say, “That’s for me!”???   Locally, our unity of belief will be tested as we advance further.  What will those who visit us see – both the believer and the unbeliever??  If they see us united by love in our belief, I know the Lord has great things for us.  Paul says in order to grow we have to be united in our belief. The unity of the church, the BY ALL! To grow numerically, we need new blood. The uninformed and the unbeliever come in, and they hear God’s word to God’s people in God’s time, they see the unity of their belief, they feel the power of the Holy Spirit, and although they are not God’s people yet, they feel His calling in their life!  They experience the love and the joy of the congregation, the welcoming spirit of proclamation and praise.  They realize this is something you can’t find in a prostitute’s temple. They are convinced there is something better, something real, and something powerful that they are experiencing. They are convicted. They know the emptiness of their heart. They want more. They want a life of joy, peace and love – and they will worship God, which means they will say to Jesus like Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”    And then, Paul tells us, they will become evangelists, as he says, “and report that God is truly among you.”

We know that for Paul the second repentance unto conversion is really number one for him. He was an evangelist.  He went from place to place establishing churches.  He wrote letters to his churches to uplift, encourage, instruct and edify.  But his first love was to bring people into the saving grace and loving arms of our Lord Jesus. In the future, that will need to be our first love also. Those two little words – BY ALL!

When we unite ourselves in proclaiming God’s word to God’s people in God’s time, we will have the victory of a life growing from faith to faith and the unbelievers converted into our family.

AMEN

This Week: 

Claim II Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND”

Also, read the 91st Psalm every day, first person, and make it yours.