1 Corinthians 15:1-34: Vote for Jesus

Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 14 September 2008
by Captain Michael Ramsay

*The italicised portions of this sermon were omitted from either one or both presentations*

So we have an election coming up again – the third in four years or the fourth in five years, something like that – all the ‘experts’ admit without a doubt that this one will be a waste of taxpayer money - even our PM who wants it, admits that it won’t change the working dynamics of parliament. But it’s a contest, a game like any other and he wants to win it.

Now I have gotten to know the former MP for our area, Brian Fitzpatrick a little bit – our paths naturally cross a fair amount. We don’t agree on everything by a long shot but he is certainly a nice enough fellow. Not too long ago I was present for a speech by Fred Bradshaw, our local MLA. It struck me. It reminded me of part of our text today - 1 Corinthians 15: 20ff. Let me paraphrase his speech and many other political speeches that I have heard based on that passage:

Our party’s leader has indeed been raised high. He is first of a new breed of premier. You see devastation came to this province from the previous government, but the resurrection of the economy comes through our new government. For as with the old premier all of us were as good as dead, so with our new premier all will be made alive.

But each in his own turn: first the premier, then his party members and supporters; then, by the time the next election, the whole province which belongs to him. Then the time will come for the next election when, of course, his majority will be so big that it is like he will be handing over the kingdom (I mean province) of Saskatchewan to God himself.

Continuing on…For our premier will by that time have destroyed all dominion, authority, power, of the former regime: indeed there will be no more problems in this province at all. And we’ll re-elect our premier and our party again and again, for he will reign forever in order to put all our troubles and crush all our enemies under his feet. Then the last enemy will be destroyed as we realise that the premier really “has put everything under his feet.”

It is amazing how political speeches have started to sound like scripture or sermons these days. This is a tongue-in cheek paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 15: 20ff, of course but I think it makes a point. You see, the more I listen to political speeches and the more I watch the news the more I realise that the world really is crying out for a Messiah. The USA every 4 years like clockwork parades out at least one possible new Messiah. Look at how people talk about Obama – particularly before McCain announced his running mate - there is no mention of his past failures only an almost messianic hope for a bright new future as if he is the one.

For all its strengths, my friends, this is one of the main downfalls of western democracies. Every election people (albeit fewer and fewer people) are mistakenly looking to parties, politicians, ideologies, platitudes, and other such nonsense to solve our problems - as if that is where our salvation comes from.

You know what? If Obama or McCain wins the next US election, the US is not going to cease to be the world’s Superpower. He is not going to withdraw their troops from the more than 100 countries they are in. He is not going to beat their swords in the ploughshares (Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3). He will not be a ‘prince of peace’ (Isa 9:6). He will not end poverty (Matt 26:11; Mark 14:7). None of the presidential candidates can walk on water (Matt 14, Mark 6, John 6). Not one of them has been raised from the dead…

Likewise in Canada: unemployment is not going to go down because of a change or a majority government; regardless of who is elected services will not improve so much that the blind will see and the lame will walk; a majority government by the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, or even the Greens, is not going to solve all our problems (Matt 15:31; Lk 7:22). Not one of our federal leaders – no matter what their ads tell us – not one of them can walk on water; not one of them has been raised from the dead.

There is a leader though who has – and he’s not running in the election – there is a leader who has done all that - and he lived 2000 years ago. This leader who lived 2000 years ago, he did all these things and more. He even preached good news to the poor and then like all great leaders - he died. Jesus died but – it didn’t end there and this is important…listen to what Paul says:

1 Corinthians 15: 1-4: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the good news (gospel) I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this good news (gospel) you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…”

This is actually one of the most important parts of the Christian faith – Paul says that it is because of the good news (gospel) that Christ died for our sins…was buried…and raised from the dead - because of his death for our sins and his resurrection, we can be saved.

It is only because of the resurrection that we have any hope at all actually because – if Christ wasn’t raised from the dead then what is the point of meeting here once a week? If he just died and moved on to whatever is next, well, what’s the big deal? Why then would he be different from Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Tommy Douglas, Mother Theresa, name your person… Why would he be so special? He wouldn’t; he would just be another person, would he not?[1]

Now I considered starting to preach from 2 Corinthians this week but the resurrection really is the central part of the Christian message of hope for the future, and as such I can tell you that we would most certainly be remiss if we read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and did not even discuss, this most important event. It would be like reading ‘Anna Karenina’ without the train episode or being in the washroom during the revealing scene in the ‘Crying Game’ or missing the final play in last year’s Grey Cup game after waiting for 18 years… we just can’t pass up this opportunity to discuss the resurrection. It is the most important event in Christianity. Christ was dead and he came back – just like the Grey Cup. We were dead in our sins and we will come back, we will be resurrected too and as we come to Christ, we will be saved!

But how do we know that Christ was raised from the dead? It says in vv. 20-23 that Christ was the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:20-23). He was raised from the dead. His body was gone from the tomb (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20) – How do we know?

Paul points as evidence to this all of the witnesses, of whom he was one. He says as we read in 15:5-8: “…[Jesus] appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also…” There were also the women at the tomb (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20). There were all those recorded in the Gospels and Acts and so many in fact, in both number and account – believe it or not – that historically there is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, than there is for the very existence of Socrates or even of Julius Caesar’s historic crossing of the Rubicon which led to his entire reign[2] but, even so, some will always be stubborn. Some will always be ignorant to what is before them and some will -sadly – choose to reject Christ. There is lots of evidence that Christ was resurrected. We know that he was dead and he came back and we wait for his return again because we were dead in our sins and we will come back, we will be resurrected too and as we come to Christ, even we will be saved!

Still – with all the assuredness, with all those witnesses and the preponderance of evidence – some people argue that Christ did not actually rise from the dead. Some say that the person that people saw after he was raised wasn’t Jesus. Some say it was someone else. The fact that Jesus was not recognised at first by a couple of people on the road – the fact that people did not recognize him has been a bit of a stumbling block for some but I must confess that I don’t know why. On the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) you will remember the story, two of the disciples are talking and Jesus comes up beside them and joins in the conversation but they do not recognise him. Some say this is because Jesus mysteriously hid himself from them. While this is possible, I find it much more likely that they just simply did not recognise him.

The people Jesus was walking with were probably not some of his closest twelve: they were other followers of his. And I don’t know about you, but I’ll confess to you that I don’t always recognise people right away. I don’t always recognise people that I should recognise too – if you catch me out of context. If you appear before me in the wrong setting, I might not know who you are. I can tell you that once, I spoke with a very good friend of mine for a solid block of time before the light bulb went off in my brain as to who they actually were…now they had changed somewhat in the time since I last saw them and I certainly wasn’t expecting to see them then but when who they were was revealed to me, we had an exciting conversation. I imagine that it might have been similar here – they weren’t expecting to see Jesus and he had changed somewhat.

He later appeared in the locked room to his disciples and to Thomas, the disciple who longed for concrete proof of the resurrection, Jesus even held out his physically resurrected body’s hand for him to feel the nail holes (John 20). We all – when we stop to think about it – we all know that he was resurrected; we all know that he was dead and he came back. We were dead in our sins and we will come back, we will be resurrected too and as we come to Christ, even we will be saved!

Or will we? Will we be raised from the dead? Will we really? This is supposedly what our hope is in – the future resurrection – when we join Christ in His Kingdom (on the new earth). Is it real? Will we too be resurrected?

There were a number of theories about what happened to the dead in Jesus’ day just like there are a number of theories that our float about in ours. Paganism outright rejected it then just like paganism outright rejects it today. Then it concentrated on a shadowy underworld from which no one would return[3] or in Plato’s thinking there was even a place from which maybe no one would want to return.[4] Judaism wasn’t convinced of it. The Sadducees denied the resurrection before the Pharisees. You may remember the fight scene we discussed last summer, in Acts 23, where Paul is even punched in the mouth by Ananias the High Priest.[5] There are a number of theories about life after death but that Jesus really did rise from the dead on Easter morning, leaving an empty tomb behind him and the hope ahead is not be in doubt. That we were dead in our sins but that we can be saved and that we will be resurrected too should not be in doubt! Look at what Paul says in our text before us today:

Verse 20-23, which we paraphrased earlier: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” We will all be resurrected so we can all be saved if we turn to, if we vote – as it were from our earlier analogy – if we vote for Christ.

Now this is interesting too. Being born and raised on the west coast. I can remember watching the election returns come on election night and it is always exciting but you know what – I can never remember a time when the election wasn’t over before the polls were even closed on Vancouver Island. The PM’s party had already won before we even finished voting. This is the same as with Christ. We have until the polls close; we have until we breath our last breath to cast our vote but Christ has indeed already won the election

Continuing on from verses 29 – the resurrection is important: “Now if there is no resurrection, (Paul says) what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?”

This is important. This resurrection is real for all of us. I quote Justin Martyr, the great second century Christian apologist – not too long after the apostle, making the same argument as Paul, he says: There are “some who are called Christians…who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven…godless, impious heretics [Justin says]… do not imagine that they are Christians.”[6] Justin, like Paul, is speaking about the resurrection of the dead. We are not simply ghosts as some suppose. We aren’t simply some spirit wandering around after we die. Rather, like Christ, we will be resurrected. Now I don’t want to get too deep or controversial here at all but it is really interesting there is a phrase in academia that is being – I think, quite rightly – circulated these days – that is “life after, life after death.”[7] This is to remind us that there will be an end to this age and that Jesus, who has already been raised from the dead, is coming back. This, though the phrase is new, has been the common understanding throughout most of Christendom, thanks to Paul and Justin and others.

In the Reformation, it is interesting that people believed so much in the resurrection – but some of the average people actually thought that God was limited in that he needed all our actual parts to resurrect our physical body; they ignored the fact that it all decays anyway – so you would find that some people would even crush and burn their enemies’ bones so that they wouldn’t be resurrected at the end of the day: this fate caught up – among others - the great reformers Wycliffe and Ulrich Zwingli.[8] As if somehow that acts of man could stop the Lord and the resurrection of the dead. This resurrection that the scriptures speak about is important but we can’t stop it and, Paul says, later on in this chapter that the perishable (out earthly bodies) will be clothed with the imperishable: our actual physical bodies be resurrected like Christ who is the first fruits of the resurrection and we will be changed. Some of us will be saved.

You see in the last 75-100 or so years, much of pop culture has just used the resurrection as a euphemism for ‘going to heaven’ – well the NT doesn’t use it this way. Church history, Paul and the NT realise that there is still a time in the future when we will all be raised and at that point - some of us will be raised to eternal salvation and some of us – well – some don’t want that gift – some of us are still refusing that gift but it is there for all who want it and this is important: there is the resurrection, there is judgement at the end of the day and any of us who call on the name of the Lord at anytime before our life here ends can be saved! Jesus died and rose again so that whosoever may, will be saved.

You see Christ is our salvation. He was born and he died because of our sins 2000 years ago but then something miraculous happened. He did not just pass into the next life. He rose from the dead. He rose from the dead and as such he is the leader who we should follow. In Christ there should be no division!

He is raised and he is coming back. He is our salvation. We should remember this as we cast our votes very soon that there is no other name by which we may be saved. Christ is the leader who deserves our support. He is both liberal in His love and conservative in His consistency. He is neither a small ‘d’ democrat nor a small ‘r’ republican. He is a captital 'M' Monarchist – He is a King and He is the Son of the King. And unlike all those others who are trying to get us to turn to them for our salvation, He has actually run the race and won the election already – we are just waiting for the polls to close, so if you haven’t already gone out to vote for Him then go out and vote for Christ for there is no other name through which we may be saved. The Lord raises up mere earthly governments and he topples them but when the eternal polls close and he does come back, make sure that he has your vote so that we will all be a part of His victory party at the resurrection of the just.

All salvation comes from Christ alone.
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[1] Now I don’t time here to go into a full discussion on the historical validity of the resurrection but I would point you briefly to NT (Tom) Wright, the Bishop of Durham; JD (Jimmy) Dunn and even the apologist Ravi Zacharias and others for more detailed arguments.
[2] Cf. The Titus Institute: http://www.titusinstitute.com/defendingfaith/jesusrose.php ; James Patrick Holding. On Comparing the Rubicon to the Resurrection: http://www.tektonics.org/qt/rubicon.html
[3]Cf. Bradley S. Billings. ‘“The Angles who Sinned…He Cast into Tartarus’ (2 Peter 2:4): Its Ancient Meaning and Present Relevance.” Expository Times, 119. no. 11, pp. 532-537.
[4] NT Wright. Jesus’ Resurrection and Christian Origins* (Originally published in Gregorianum, 2002, 83/4, 615–635. Available on-line at: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Jesus_Resurrection.htm
[5] Acts 23: 1-11: Punch in the Mouth ('The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 23 September 2007 by Captain Michael Ramsay - http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/09/acts-23-1-11-punch-in-mouth-or-terrible.html
[6] Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 80. Cited From Richard B. Hays, Interpretation: 1 Corinthians, 259.
[7] NT Wright. 'Jesus' Ressurection and Christian Origins: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Jesus_Resurrection.htm
[8] Cf. Ulrich Gabler, Huldrych Zwingli: his Life and Work. Translated by Ruth C.L. Gritch. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 150-152.