April 9th Follow-up

Sunday Follow-up
1 Corinthians 15 – “Does the resurrection matter?”

There was a teaching floating around in the church of Corinth that said there was no resurrection of the dead. A belief held in Greek culture and was most certainly perpetuated by unbelievers in the church. But for some reason, a few of the believers in Corinth decided that it must be true.  What they did not consider were the ramifications if there was no resurrection of the dead.

This is a belief that is still held by unsaved people today. A writer shared an experience of sharing the gospel. When he got to the part of Jesus rising from the dead, the man stopped him and said in essence – “Dead people don’t come back to life. And besides, why does it matter if I believe that?”

What I showed in yesterday’s teaching is that the resurrection of the dead does matter. It matters for these reasons:

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus did not rise from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we still bear the guilt of our sins. If we still bear the guilt of our sins, then there is no point in going out and telling people about the good news of Jesus because there would be no good news. There would be no reason for the Great Commission. If there is no resurrection from the dead, then our faith in Jesus is meaningless. It is meaningless because we will still face judgment for our sins.

Thankfully Jesus did rise from the dead. Not only was His resurrection proof of who He said He was. It is also proof that His offering of Himself for our sins was accepted by the Father.
The next time you have the opportunity to share the gospel with someone, be sure to include that Jesus rose from the dead. The rest of the gospel message hinges on that truth.