Resurrection Hope
1 Corinthians 15:12-26
The resurrection of Christ is the only hope for our own lives and for the whole world.
1 Corinthians 15:12-26
April 21st, 2019 | Easter Sunday
Main idea: The resurrection of Christ is the only hope for our own lives and for the whole world.
I. THE RESURRECTION & OUR HOPE (15:12-19)
The church in Corinth is struggling with doubt related to issues of resurrection. We often get the idea that people in the 1st century were simply more prone to believe in a previously dead person being raised, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Greco-Roman Worldview:
Death was viewed as an “escape” or “liberation” from the body. The physical world was viewed as fallen and evil, so death was leaving this realm for the preferred spiritual realm.
This made the claim of the bodily resurrection of Christ not only unthinkable, but undesirable.
Jewish Worldview:
They had more of a concept of resurrection, but they believed this would happen for all of the righteous of God at one time at the end of human history.
For an individual to be raised in the middle of human history, without the rest of the world being renewed, did not fit in their thinking or expectations.
Paul argues that a denial of the resurrection has at least 7 implications: If there is no resurrection from the dead, then...
1. Christ has not been raised (15:13, 16)
2. Our preaching is in vain (15:14a)
3. Our faith is in vain & futile (15:14b, 17a)
4. We are misrepresenting God (15:15)
5. We are still in our sins (15:17b)
6. Death is the end (15:18)
7. We have no real hope (15:19a)
If the Christian faith is based on an empty gospel and a fraudulent savior, “anybody is better off than the Christian” (Leon Morris). Everything hinges on whether or not Jesus was really raised from the dead.
“We cannot be saved by a dead Christ, who undertook but could not perform, and who still lies under the Syrian sky, another martyr of impotent love. To save, he must not merely pass to but through death. If the penalty was fully paid, it cannot have broken him, it must need to have been broken upon him. The resurrection of Christ is thus the indispensable evidence of his completed work, of his accomplished redemption.” ~ B.B. Warfield
When we flip all of these statements around (since Paul is indeed fully convinced of the resurrection), we see the hope of the resurrection. We can look forward to our own resurrection one day, our faith has power, the stranglehold of sin in our lives has been broken, and we can have a real, tangible hope in the here and now. Rather than pity, joy is offered to us.
II. THE RESURRECTION & THE HOPE OF THE WORLD (15:20-26)
Christ as the “firstfruits” was a powerful imagery for an agricultural society. The “firstfruits” were the initial haul of the season. It indicated that the harvest was coming, while also illustrating the quality of the rest of the crop to come. Paul is contending that Christ’s resurrected body gives a foretaste of what is to come for the believer.
“The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘firstfruits, the pioneer of life,’ He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because he has done so” ~ C.S. Lewis
Paul draws a comparison between Adam and the “second Adam” (Christ); everywhere that Adam failed, Christ succeeded, and now his people experience union in Christ. Everything that is Christ’s is ours: his death was our death, and his life is now our life.
15:23-26 is steeped in military and kingdom language. Christ, as the commander and chief, goes first and will fully and finally destroy “every rule and every power and authority.” Their defeat has already begun at the resurrection.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death itself. This means:
Death is still our enemy
Death is a defeated enemy
Death will soon be “swallowed up in victory” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:54)
“The message of the resurrection is that this world matters! That the injustices and pains of this present world must now be addressed with the news that healing, justice, and love have won. If Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead, Christianity becomes good news for the whole world – new which warms our hearts precisely because it isn’t just about warming hearts. Easter means that in a world where injustice, violence, and degradation are endemic, God is not prepared to tolerate such things – and that we will work and plan, with all the energy of God, to implement the victory of Jesus over them all.” ~ N.T. Wright
So what’s the big deal about the resurrection? Paul has answered this in 2 ways:
If Christ has been raised, there is real hope for our lives right now.
“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching, but whether or not he rose from the dead. That is how the first hearers felt who heard reports of the resurrection. They knew that if it was true it meant we can’t live our lives anyway we want. It also means we don’t have to be afraid of anything, not Roman swords, not cancer, nothing. If Jesus rose from the dead, it changes everything.” ~ Tim Keller
If Christ has been raised, there is real hope not only for us, but for the whole world
The Death of Christ
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
The crucifixion of Christ was a sin-bearing death in the place of a guilty humanity.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
April 19th, 2019 | Good Friday
Main idea: The crucifixion of Christ was a sin-bearing death in the place of a guilty humanity.
I. THE SUFFERING SURROUNDING HIS DEATH (52:13-53:3, 7-9)
Isaiah describes this servant as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (53:3). We see various levels and types of suffering sprinkled throughout this passage.
Physical (52:14): his appearance is “marred beyond human semblance,” to the extent that many were “astonished” or “appalled” at his physical state.
Social (53:1-3): he was “rejected by men” and did not fit the expectations of the Jewish people for the coming Messiah.
Injustice (53:7-9): although he “had done no violence” and “there was no deceit in his mouth,” he was oppressed, judged, and “cut off out of the land of the living.”
Cosmic: the most significant of the suffering Jesus faced, which explains the significance of his death.
II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS DEATH (53:4-6)
The chiastic structure of these verses indicate that 53:4-6 is the heart of the passage. It’s also the heart of the gospel message and the good news that we remember on Good Friday.
The pronouns are key to understanding the significance of his death. Though Jesus is bearing grief, iniquity, and transgressions, they were not his own. They were our griefs, sorrows, iniquities, and sins. Isaiah writes as if we were there at the cross, because we were.
The issue here is sin which cannot simply be “swept under the rug.” Someone must absorb the cost and the debt that sin creates. The cross tells us that God himself will absorb this cost, as he voluntarily takes our sins and iniquities off of us and upon himself.
“That is the mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it. He has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them… in the same manner as he grieved and suffered in our sins and was confounded, in the same manner we rejoice and glory in his righteousness.. ” ~ Martin Luther
The Jews also viewed the cross with great disdain, because Deuteronomy states, “cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree.” On the cross, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). The cross was his death, but it is our life.
III. The Success of His Death (53:10-12)
This last stanza tells us that the cross is not the end of the story, and the death described here is not the final note. Even though this servant is “crushed,” the prophecy indicates he will “see his offspring” and that his soul will be “satisfied.”
This is all because it was the “will of the Lord to crush him” (53:10); this was all in the divine strategy and plan of God. What looks like defeat to the world is actually victory in Christ.
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” ~ 1 Corinthians 1:18
Jesus does not want us to look at the cross and have pity on him. This is an invitation to worship and participate in this new way of life as he divides the spoils of victory with us (53:12), interceding on our behalf.
What does all of this mean for us? We are a people who are shaped by the cross. We must keep the cross at the center of everything, both we we are and how we act. It is a reminder of our sin and our salvation.
“While the Calvary-event happened one weekend in Jerusalem, we are to deny our own desires and pick up our cross daily and follow Jesus. Crucifixion happened for us and to us. And now we view our lives, our identities- the totality of all that we are – as being ‘in Christ.’ Now, our greatest accomplishment is something we didn’t do, but rather something that’s been done for us and in us. We boast in Jesus’ cross. What is most significant about our lives is that we have been crucified with Christ” ~ J.A. Medders
The Last Supper
Matthew 26:17-29
Jesus’ substitutionary and sacrificial death is the fulfillment of Passover remembered in The Lord’s Supper until he returns
Matthew 26:17-29
April 14th, 2019
Main idea: Jesus’ substitutionary and sacrificial death is the fulfillment of Passover remembered in The Lord’s Supper until he returns
I. THE SHADOW OF PASSOVER (26:17-19)
The familiar story of the “Last Supper” is set in the context of two Old Testament feasts and festivals: Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Both are loaded with meaning and symbolism related to the Exodus from Egypt.
The “Passover” specifically is in view here, remembering when the Lord instructed the people of Israel to sacrifice a lamb and to spread its blood over the doorposts of their homes so that death would not visit them. The Lord would “pass over” their homes on the basis of the blood of the lamb.
Passover was ultimately a “shadow,” because Jesus has come to fulfill all that was “written” before him. Therefore, it is crucial for us to understand the meaning and the significance behind what God has always been doing in and for his people.
Application: Passover and the events surrounding the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus are a reminder that we can’t save ourselves. Where are being drawn to self-salvation projects?
II. THE SUBSTANCE OF CHRIST (26:20-28)
The betrayal of Judas (and very soon, the abandonment of the other 11 disciples) is heightened by the intimacy of this dinner scene. Judas’ refusal to refer to Jesus as “Lord” ultimately reveals the posture of his heart.
There is a tension here between Judas’ betrayal, the disciples choice to abandon Jesus, and the sovereign, divine plan of God “as it is written.” But there is something in this tension for us to learn.
“It is essential to keep together these two complementary ways of looking at the cross. On the human level, Judas gave him up to the priests, who gave him up to Pilate, who gave him up to the soldiers, who crucified him. But on the divine level, the Father gave him up, and he gave himself up, to die for us. As we face the cross, then, we can say to ourselves both, “I did it, my sins sent him there,” and “He did it, his love took him there… the cross, which is an exposure of human evil, is at the same time a revelation of the divine purpose to overcome the human evil thus exposed. ” ~ John Stott
This should cause us to soberly consider our own participation in the crucifixion of Christ, but also find comfort in the fact that our Savior knows intimately what it’s like to be abandoned and betrayed, and can sympathize with us.
“All the history of the people of God has been moving toward this moment. Every return from exile. Every deliverance from any tyrant. Every substitutionary sacrifice of an animal. Everything. Everything that has ever happened in the whole history of redemption, in the whole history of God’s work with his people, everything is moving toward this. This is the climactic moment in the history of redemption, in the history of the world.” ~ Tim Keller
Jesus is drawing attention to meaning of his death in two ways.
1. His death is substitutionary
He indicates that his body is broken and his blood is poured out “for many for the forgiveness of sins.” This “for” means “in the place of “ or “on behalf of.”
“The concept of substitution may be said, then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone.” ~ John Stott
2. His death is sacrificial
There is a huge missing element of the Passover meal Jesus is sharing with his disciples: the main course, the lamb, is missing. Jesus is clearly proclaiming here: “I am the substitute. I take the judgment you deserve. And - I am the sacrifice. I am the lamb who was slain so that you are not.”
III. The Sustaining Meal (26:29)
Jesus’ final words had to be confusing for the disciples. He has just set up his death and its significance and meaning, but now he is talking about drinking with them again in the future.
Jesus is indicating here that his death is not the end of the story but is actually the beginning of something new and greater. Jesus is hinting that his death is actually the beginning of the death of death itself.
Until the day comes when we will see death itself defeated fully and finally, Jesus has given us a sustaining meal to observe regularly until he returns.
“When Jesus first shared the Supper with his disciples, he was giving them something firm to hold on to—like a beam set in concrete. Jesus would soon be betrayed and crucified in their place. He wanted them not only to remember the sacrifice, but also to grasp its significance. Jesus was leaving, and other people, priorities, and persecutions would soon threaten the devotion of their hearts. But the Lord’s Supper was a handle they could grasp through it all. Doubts would come, but they would remember. Dangers would come, but they would remember. Dissenters would abandon them, but they would remember that indelible moment when Jesus broke the bread and served the cup. It was a simple act, a common meal, but it would soon become their sustaining grace.” ~ Daryl Crouch
Communion is a sustaining meal that helps us look in two directions: we look backward to the sacrificial and subtitutionary death of Jesus, while we simultaneously look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19).