FIRST LOOK AT EASTER

February 17, 2019

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah 17:5-8

Gospel Lesson; Luke 6:17-26

Sermon Text; 1 Corinthians 15:12,

1 Corinthians 15:16-20

It is not too often you sing an Easter hymn, when it is snowing outside. But, our text for today affords us the opportunity to look at Easter two months before it takes place. This morning, let's focus on 1 Corinthians, chapter fifteen, looking at verses twelve, and also sixteen through twenty. This is in Jesus' name. God's Word says:

Now if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then it also follows that those who fell asleep in Christ perished. If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

These are your words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your Word is truth.

Amen

About one hundred years ago, this was written about Lenin, who was the dictator of the Soviet Union. He had just died, and this was June 21^st, 1924, when the Soviet Congress had this to say about their leader. “His vision was colossal. His intelligence in organizing the masses was beyond belief. He was the lord of the new humanity, the savior of the world.”

Now that is a pretty bold statement to make. And here we are, less than one hundred years after those words were written, and we don't think much about Lenin, anymore. Notice the verbs that were used, just days after he had died. The verbs that were used were in the past tense.

Today we are gathered together for worship because of somebody who died two thousand years ago, and who rose two thousand years ago. Today we are still gathered together in His name, with excitement, because of what the angel said to the women, when they went to the tomb on that very first Easter. The angel said this, and it was not in the past tense.

“He is not here.

He IS risen!”

These past few weeks we have been looking at the power of Jesus. Pastor Bartels had us looking at the power of Jesus, and the authority He had in His preaching. Last week we looked at the power of Jesus over nature. Today in our Gospel Lesson we see the power of Jesus over disease. You heard what Pastor Bartels read.

“The whole crowd kept trying to touch Jesus,

because power was going out from Him

and healing them all.”

The text we look at for today talks about the power Jesus has even over death. I know Easter is two months away, but our text for today really gives us a first look at Easter.

Now, why was this portion of this letter written? First Corinthians was a letter that was written to the church in Corinth. Why was it written in the first place, especially the portion of scripture we are focusing on right now? Why was it written? It was written, because some people didn't believe you rose from the dead. You see what it says in verse twelve of our text.

“...if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead,

how is it that some among you say

there is no resurrection of the dead?”

So there was this track record over the years where people didn't believe, and people didn't teach that you rose from the dead. I am going to give you some examples.

-Go back five hundred years, before Jesus was born. Aeschylus wrote this. He lived in 500 BC. He was a Greek philosopher. Corinth, the city of Corinth, is in Greece. So here is where their thoughts would have come to them, down through the years. He said, “When the dust has drunk the blood of man, and he is once dead, there is no uprising.”

So Aeschylus didn't believe you rose from the dead. That is what he believed, and that is what he taught.

-Fifty years after that is when Socrates lived. Socrates was also a Greek philosopher living in that same area. On Socrates' deathbed, his friends were gathered around him, and they asked him this question, “Shall we live again?”

All Socrates could say was, “I hope so.”

The most well known student of Socrates was Plato. Plato lived about four hundred years before Jesus. Plato taught, “The body is intrinsically evil, so when you die, you want your soul to leave your body, but you want to leave your body behind.”

Well, if that is what Plato taught that is what Socrates would have taught as well, not believing in the physical resurrection of the body.

-A contemporary of Jesus, was a man who was a Roman, whose name was Seneca. He said, “When the day shall come which shall part this mixture of divine and human, here where I found it, I will leave my body, and myself I will give back to the gods.” So, he didn't believe in the resurrection.

-Then you get to the time of Jesus, and the time of the Apostle Paul, and the Gospels. The book of Acts tells us about the Sadducees. We might say the Sadducees were the upper echelon of the Jewish people. Scripture is very clear when it says, in multiple places they didn't believe in the resurrection.

So, you have this five hundred year track record for the people in Corinth who were taught, and who didn't believe you rose from the dead.

And so, along comes the Apostle Paul. He writes this letter to them. He is writing this letter to them, only about 25 years after Jesus' death, and resurrection. He is wanting to make a connection. The connection is that with Jesus' resurrection it also means you are going to rise from the dead. He lists the people Jesus appeared to, right before our text for today. So, if Jesus rose from the dead, you also are going to rise from the dead.

Back when I was in high school, I was not very good at Geometry, at the time. But, there was a part of Geometry I really loved doing. If you remember your Geometry class, (maybe you are in it right now, or maybe it was a few years ago when you were in Geometry), maybe you can remember the two column, proof system. You would be given a problem to solve. You would have to put down two columns. You would have to make a statement, and give a reason behind it. As you are solving this problem, you make a statement, and you give a reason. Then you would make a statement and give a reason until you came to the solution. In our text for today that is almost like what the Apostle Paul is doing. He is giving this two proof column, making a statement and backing it up with reasons from scripture.

Let's look at the statements he makes, and the reason behind it.

-Verse sixteen. “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.”

So, if that is what you believe, and if that is what you teach, that people do not rise from the dead, then not even Jesus rose from the dead.

Think about the Apostles for a moment. That would mean all of the apostles were liars, then. Why in the world would they stake the risk that Jesus had risen from the dead, if it wasn't true? And yet, almost 150 times in the book of Acts that is the point the apostles always wanted to get to. They always wanted to get to the point of Jesus' resurrection.

Think about the apostles. Almost all of them dying a martyr's death, (minus John), and staking their lives on the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. If Jesus hadn't done that, why would they stake their lives on that? Why would Paul leave the upper echelon of the Jewish life to say Jesus had risen from the dead, if it wasn't true? They would all be liars.

-Verse seventeen. “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. That means it is pointless. Why did you come here this morning? Why did you drive through a snowstorm to get here? I looked at the weather last night, and told my wife, Katie, “Nobody is going to come to church, because of the snow. Nobody is going to be here.” And yet, you are here! Why are you here? It is because Jesus rose from the dead. If He had not risen from the dead, your faith would be futile. Your faith would pointless. There would be no forgiveness of sin. And yet, we are here today, having driven through a snowstorm, because we want to hear the comforting words that Jesus has risen from the dead.

-In verse eighteen, “Then it also follows that those who fell asleep in Christ perished.”

There would be no future. People would be gone, forever. Over the past twenty years there have been four hundred funerals, here at Holy Cross. If Christ had not been raised, there would be nothing Pastor Bartels could say that would bring comfort to people. There would be nothing I could say that would bring comfort to people. All we could say is, “Your loved one perished.” “Your grandpa and grandma died. They are gone.” “Your mom and dad, they died. They are gone.” “Your brother, your sister, your child, they are dead. They are gone forever. They perished.”

We once had a married couple here at Holy Cross. They lived in a nursing home together. She had passed away, during the middle of the night. One of the workers from the funeral home came in, and saw the lady, and said out loud, “She's a goner.”

The husband who was living was like, “Oh, how could she say that? How could she say she is a goner?”

He always said, “I wish she would have said, 'She's in Heaven.'”

Yes, she did die. Yes, she did pass away. But, we have the comfort of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

-In verse nineteen, “If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are to be the most pitiful people of all.”
If what Jesus did only applies to this life, people should pity you. People should pity me. They should be sorry for what you believe. They should be sorry, because of what I believe.

Now, if the Apostle Paul had stopped writing his letter, right there, that would be a very tragic letter. That would be terrible. But, the Apostle Paul goes on from there. Maybe in his letter, maybe in this portion of scripture, it is the most comforting thing he could have said. Basically, he tells us:

The resurrection assures

what Calvary secures.

It was on Mount Calvary that Jesus secured our salvation. He died on the cross to pay for our sins. Scripture says this about Jesus.

He was delivered over to death for our sins.

But, He was raised to life for our justification.

The resurrection assures

what Calvary secures.

-In verse twenty the Apostle Paul goes on to write: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Christ is indeed been raised from the dead! Great comfort we take in the words the Apostle Paul wrote right there.

And now, Jesus is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”. The phrase 'firstfruits' is an Old Testament term. It reminds of what was written in the book of Exodus and Leviticus, concerning The Feast of Firstfruits. At the time of the harvest, the people were to bring the first sheaf of grain to the temple. They were to give that first sheaf of grain to the priest. The priest was to take that sheaf of grain, and he was to wave it before the LORD. It was just the first of all of the harvest that was to come.

Well, Jesus is the firstfruits. He is the first to have risen from the dead. And, now the comforting statement that follows behind it, of the harvest that will come. He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, but now the rest is to follow.

So, what is it that we take from our text for today? On one hand there is a warning, and on the other hand there is a blessing. It is kind of like our Gospel Lesson for today. There are blessings, and woes.

-The warning is this. Watch out, just like in Corinth. Watch out for those things that have a track record in our society. The track record in Corinth was the teaching for at least five hundred years that people did not rise from the dead. That is what the people fell into believing.

Well, we have a track record of things in our society, and in our life, that people think are true. I am going to name one. That is abortion. For almost the last fifty years our society has taught, and said, “Abortion is ok. Abortion is legal.” If you are younger than fifty years old, you can fall into that just being normal. That is what is taught. That is just 'true'. And yet, it goes contrary to what The Scripture teaches.

We should also think of ourselves, too. It is not just other people, but it is me, myself, and I. Hatred is a sin of murder, and we all fall into that sin, also.

Look at things our society says are true, that just aren't, and be warned about those things.

-On the other hand, see the great blessing. The words of Jesus, our Savior, when He said,

“Because I live, you also will live.”

Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection assures what Calvary secured.

Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, even the sins of hatred, murder, and abortion. Jesus died on the cross. He paid for all of those sins, and three days later Jesus rose from the grave. God accepted the payment Jesus made for our sins.

Two thousand years before Jesus was born, Job lived. Job lived at the same time as The Patriarchs. He would have lived at the same time as Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Two thousand years before Jesus was born, died, and rose again, Job, with assurance, and Job with confidence, could proclaim what we say, and what we sing at Easter.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

In the end He will stand upon the earth.

After my skin has been destroyed

Yet in my flesh, I will see God.

I myself will see Him with my own eyes.

I and not another.

How my heart yearns within me.

Amen