Intro: What’s your favourite breakfast? I love a good cooked breakfast with the works. What would you like – maybe some salmon and poached eggs. A melt in your mouth pastry? An egg, bacon and avocado panini? Fresh berries? All washed down with a latte, or some fresh orange juice? A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Easter. Well, if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, I’m off to have brunch at a cafe, none of this going to church services for me. Or maybe I’ll go out on the water in a boat or to the beach? Perhaps I’ll sleep in and laze around before pottering in the garden in the summer weather. Paul puts it like this in 1 Corinthians 15:32 – if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, … “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we should be like most other Aussies – live for everything we can get out of this life; renovate the house, spend the retirement on long holidays, squeeze every drop out of today, because tomorrow we die and that’s it. And Paul might have reflected on himself – “I gave up a good career as a Jewish teacher, well respected by my society, all to be flogged, shipwrecked, thrown in jail, chased out of town – if the only hope I have is for this life then I am to be pitied, says Paul. Or me – why would I bother being an Anglican minister in a society which thinks I’m crazy at best – I should be out there using my economics degree, competing for top spot in the market and getting all the big boys toys with everyone else. Only 21% of Australians at best believe in the resurrection (according to a 2015 McCrindle public survey). But the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the “all or nothing” part of Christianity. Christianity is either everything with the resurrection, or it’s nothing without the resurrection.
There’s a world of difference between a man on Good Friday, Jesus, who was a good moral teacher, a fine example, a political radical who came to an untimely end, and the almighty Son of God we meet on Easter Sunday, who defeated death, that greatest of enemies, who offers us real life and hope. That’s why a few uneducated, uninspiring, followers of Jesus who ran away on Friday, had a life change on Sunday, so that a few months later the political leaders would say, we’ve got to stop these people, they’re turning the world upside down. Good Friday doesn’t turn the world upside down, when Jesus dies. Easter Sunday turns the world upside down, when Jesus does the impossible and rises from the dead. The choice of 1 Corinthians 15 is about which world you want to live in – A life of darkness, death, struggle, defeat and hopelessness (where we eat and drink for tomorrow we die), or a world of sunrise, of miracles, of hope, of freedom, and new life. Do you want to live in the world of the celebrant’s funeral where there’s nothing much to say, no hope except the wistful wish that good old George is smiling down on us somehow while he has a beer up there? Or the world of the Christian funeral where we mourn BUT as people with certain hope that we will see that beloved brother or sister in Christ again in the new heavens and the new earth, where it’s better than the best party we’ve ever been to, and have the most wonderful reunions? The choice between resurrection or no resurrection, is the choice between good news or lives of quiet desperation covered up with materialism or distractions. It’s really hard to look at any news reports or social media at the moment without feeling overwhelmed by bad news. That’s why in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul wants to remind that small group of 50 or 100 Christians living in a totally unchristian city of ½ a million people of the good news, or gospel. And I want to remind you today of the good news that is there for you and the people of Taroona and Sandy Bay.
• The essentials – Verses 3-7 are the essentials of the good news. A very early Christian creed – statement of belief – passed around by word of mouth, and now written down by Paul.
· Christ died for our sins – and was buried Jesus wasn’t a social revolutionary who was killed for his beliefs – he didn’t found Amnesty or Getup. He wasn’t a wonderful teacher, to admire and follow, with a tragic untimely death. Jesus was primarily a sacrifice for our sins. His main purpose in life was to die because our wrongs, had cut us off from God, and his death would reopen a way back. That’s why in our gospel reading Jesus tells his followers he “must” die. He was buried – He wasn’t a con artist who fainted on the cross and made a seemingly miraculous comeback when woke up from a coma a few days later. And He didn’t fake death either. Roman soldiers were brutally efficient professional executioners. Christ died for our sins, and was buried.
· Raised on the third day – The second part of the good news is that not only are our sins gone, but Jesus proved it by rising again from the dead, just as said he would. He put his money where his mouth was. Jesus showed that there would be life after death for us, by rising himself. And it is a bodily resurrection, not a spiritual apparition, as some church leaders occasionally try to put forward. He ate fish and chips, he walked along dirt roads, was seen by lots of people. He was raised on the third day …
· In accordance with the Scriptures – Jesus didn’t spring up in history, out of nowhere. It was God’s plan all along, and the Old Testament Scriptures show this (for example Isaiah 53). Jesus was God’s grand design to deal with the problem of sin, forgiveness, of people living in good relationship with God. Jesus’ whole life was in accord with the scriptures – he preached and lived that teaching, and so should we. He was part of a plan since the beginning of time and continuing still today – revealed in the Bible. God knows our world is in a mess, and God has a plan to restore it.
· Many witnesses – And finally Paul notes the many witnesses. Peter, the twelve disciples, 500 other Christians, James, other apostles, Paul himself. Paul is saying – test the truth of this. Look, there are more than 500 people who witnessed this – check it out. Christianity is distinguished amongst religions by its appeal to historical fact, to the testimony of eyewitnesses. Paul couldn’t write this if the witnesses weren’t there. He’d be found out, exposed eventually. The whole church would have fallen apart rapidly. This is not fake news, but good news. Read verses 3-7. The essentials of the good news, the gospel.
· One gospel, whoever might preach it – Finally, in verse 11, Paul notes that there is one gospel, no matter who is preaching it. There weren’t competing claims amongst Jesus’ followers. There was one message, passed on, the same today as 2000 years ago. Paul, in writing to another church, the Galatians writes “if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, let that one be accursed.” If anyone comes to Taroona and preaches a different gospel – then it is not the good news about Jesus, but an invention. Something to be rejected. So, what should we do with this message of good news?
· Receive it – welcome it with open arms – it’s good news for you! If you haven’t yet received this good news, chat to me or Ruth afterwards and we can help you do that. Or ask God right now. Say God, I want to receive your good news in my life – I am no longer closed off to you.
· Take your stand on it – Anglicans can be reluctant to take a stand on issues. But, of course, there is still a point where we must take a stand. If nowhere else, the resurrection is it. This good news in these verses is the absolute core of Christian faith to take our stand on.
· Be saved by it – The language used is of an ongoing experience. Christians are saved instantly when they first become Christians, yet salvation also continues – God has saved us from the power of sin, once and for all, but God’s Spirit is continually working in us to save us from the effects of sin, the consequences of sin. And finally, when we go to be with Jesus, we are saved fully from this sin-damaged world.
· Pass it on – Paul passed the good news onto the Corinthians church. But he had received it himself, and so calls the Corinthians and all Christians to keep passing on the good news. When the church first spread throughout the world, in Acts the everyday, common church members are literally described as gossiping the gospel. Are you prone to gossip? Don’t gossip about other people. Gossip the good news of Jesus.
Conclusion
Everything in Christianity, rides on the resurrection.
So, what if, as we believe, Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day?
· Well, this church service would be worth coming to, for a starter!
· The resurrection was the proof that Jesus was who he said he was and that what he said in our bibles can be trusted. His teaching wasn’t a new moral approach to be filed in the self-help section of the bookshop. But incredibly important words from God.
· If Jesus was raised, then we can be truly forgiven by God. Our biggest mistakes, the things that haunt our life, can be let go, if we believe in Jesus. We can be sure, because we know God has that power to forgive. His death was the price for our forgiveness. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power of God to forgive you and me.
· If Jesus was raised, then the power that did that can surely change us here and now. Filled with Jesus’ Spirit, our lives can be changed – sometimes quickly, at other times slowly. Supernatural help, that I certainly need, and probably you too, is available to us. You don’t have to somehow summon extra resources from inside yourself to make the changes you long for – God’s Spirit is the external power source all Christians have.
· If Jesus was raised, there is a future for anyone who follows him. Death will be destroyed. In Matthew’s gospel, we see a taste of what is to come. When Jesus died, “the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.”
· If Jesus was raised, as his followers we have good news we need to tell people about it! This is not mundane, everyday stuff. This is life changing, history making! The job of the church at Taroona is to get the good news out there! You don’t need to stand on a soap box in the main street, but as a church come up with a plan to share the good news, as Ruth is doing with you.
· As individuals, pray regularly for a couple of people you know who desperately need that good news and life transformation. Look for opportunities to gently tell them of the hope you have, how Jesus makes a difference in your day-to-day life. 1 Corinthians 15 reminds us that we can say – where O death is your victory, your sting. Thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
PRAYER